ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Senate lawmakers begin hearing pitches for bonding dollars as they kick off the first leg of their statewide tour in northwest Minnesota, visiting more than 30 sites in 23 cities over the next three days (Tuesday-Thursday).
The tour sites include Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Moorhead and the Historical Society’s Comstock House, also in Moorhead. Other locations include Barnesville, Breckenridge, Detroit Lakes, East Grand Forks, Mahnomen. Fosston, Frazee, Roseau, U of M Crookston, and Thief River Falls.
Saint Paul Democrat Sandy Pappas, chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee, says the traditional every-other-year for a bonding bill is not enough. “We really want to do a bonding bill every year to get caught up. We skipped 2016, we skipped ’21 and ’22 and we’ve just got pretty far behind, and the needs, just continue to grow,” Pappas said. Pappas is talking about a $1.5- to 1.6-billion bonding bill next year.
Minnesota House lawmakers will tour northwest and northeast Minnesota in September, southwest, central, and southeast Minnesota in October and the Twin Cities in mid-November to hear pitches from projects vying for state bonding and infrastructure dollars.
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