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 (AP) - Legislative negotiators struck a deal late
Friday on a billion-dollar construction budget, clearing a path to
an on-time finish to this year's session.

      The $1 billion capital bonding bill contains a laundry list of
construction projects around Minnesota. Talks on the bill proceeded
haltingly the last few days, and the deal came only after a 10-hour
session in Gov. Tim Pawlenty's office.

      The bill's completion brings resolution to one of the last
outstanding issues of the 2006 legislative session, which has
already seen deals on stadiums for the Twins and Gophers, and a
framework for spending and tax relief.

      "Earlier today I thought it wasn't looking good at all," said
Sen. Keith Langseth,, DFL-Glyndon, the Senate's chief bonding
negotiator. Langseth and his House counterpart, Rep. Dan Dorman,
R-Albert Lea, had clashed repeatedly in recent weeks over details
of the project list.

      Last-minute sticking points included funding for an expansion of
the state prison in Faribault and events centers in Bemidji and
Marshall, all of which got funding; and another events center in
Duluth, which didn't.

      The voluminous bill will take hours to be drawn up and printed,
and both Dorman and Langseth said it probably wouldn't be ready for
votes in the House and Senate until after midnight Sunday morning.
Lawmakers are shooting for a 7 a.m. Sunday finish.

      In other Capitol business, conference committees delved into the
details of modest tax relief for married couples and lockups for
sex offenders.

      Legislative leaders and Pawlenty reached an overall agreement
for $202.5 million in new spending and $202.5 million in tax cuts,
after a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this week on a disputed
cigarette fee gave them some fiscal breathing room.

      Pawlenty said the 2006 session was on track to be "very, very
productive." Last year, partisan disagreements over the budget led
to an eight-week special session and forced parts of state
government to shut down for eight days in July.

      "Hopefully everybody learned their lesson and wants to be more
constructive and positive," the GOP governor said. "We have to
find some compromises, focus on the doable and move ahead for the
good of the state."

      House and Senate tax negotiators agreed to eliminate a tax
penalty that hits half a million married couples. But the relief
would be relatively small - adding up to a total of $60 million.
The panel still had about $140 million of the $202.5 million in tax
relief to allocate.

      Senate Taxes Committee Chairman Larry Pogemiller,
DFL-Minneapolis, and his House counterpart, Rep. Phil Krinkie,
R-Lino Lakes, said they didn't have enough money for property tax
relief - a priority for both houses and Pawlenty.


      Instead, Pogemiller said the focus had shifted to shielding
middle-income taxpayers from a tax code wrinkle known as the
alternative minimum tax, which about 40,000 Minnesotans owed for
2004, according to the Department of Revenue.

      Krinkie also proposed using about $110 million to assume some
education costs now covered by school districts.

      One floor up, the spending conference committee worked on a bill
that would increase funding to keep up with a growing number of
dangerous sex offenders confined to locked state treatment
facilities. 

But the negotiators were still in disagreement on early
childhood items, salary increases for the Department of Human
Services and a genomics project.

      One product of the session takes effect Saturday: Local
governments will find their power to seize private property for
redevelopment projects severely restricted under the bill Pawlenty
signed into law on the Capitol steps Friday.

      Under the new law, cities, counties and townships can take
private property for another private owner only if the property is
environmentally contaminated or extremely blighted.

      On a lighter note, the House approved a bill designating the
Honeycrisp apple the state's official fruit, sending it to
Pawlenty's desk for approval.

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Martiga Lohn

Author

Legislative negotiators struck a deal late
Friday on a billion-dollar construction budget, clearing a path to
an on-time finish to this year's session.
      The $1 billion capital bonding bill contains a laundry list of
construction projects around Minnesota.

Lawmakers nail down bonding bill, aim to finish on time

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