A second bonding bill will be going to the governor after both the House and Senate passed the legislation out of their chambers by votes of 89-44 and 49-17, respectively. The bill (H.F. 2700) was the result of a second conference committee report crafted after the governor indicated he would veto the entire original bonding bill. The new bill increases funding for the Moose Lake sex offender facility expansion, a priority of the governor, to $47.5 million; the governor had originally recommended $89 million in his proposal. Even so, the governor has indicated that he will sign the final bill, which totals just under $1 billion, and use his line item veto authority to bring the overall total down closer to his preferred level of $725 million. The Rochester Post-Bulletin provides further details of the new bonding bill here.

After further negotiations in the conference committee, the funding allocated for the Mayo Civic Center expansion increased from $25 million to $28 million. We would like to thank the Rochester area delegation that have been supportive of the project. A special thanks is due to Sen. Ann Lynch, who was the only Rochester legislator on the bonding bill conference committee and has been a strong advocate for the project.