In today’s Rochester Post-Bulletin, the paper’s editorial writer questions Sen. David Senjem’s decision not to sponsor the Mayo Civic Center expansion bill. Sen. Senjem, who is chair of the Senate Bonding Committee, has supported the project in the past but cites that civic center projects won’t be a priority in this year’s bill. The paper hopes that [...]

The Rochester Post-Bulletin editorial board penned a column today commending backers of the Mayo Civic Center expansion for not giving up on the project. Read the full editorial here.

In a letter to legislators, Governor Pawlenty outlined the projects he removed from the state’s bonding bill through his line-item veto authority. All civic center projects, including the Mayo Civic Center expansion, were removed from the bill. The governor’s line-item vetoes total $319 million in projects.
For southeastern Minnesota, this is a lost opportunity in job creation [...]

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 [...]

A working group made up of state House and Senate members revealed a new bonding bill proposal yesterday afternoon. The plan includes funding for six projects that were priorities for the governor, including the expansion of the Moose Lake sex offender treatment facility. The bill’s total did not budge much from the legislature’s original proposal, [...]

The House communication staff reports that instead of starting over from scratch on the bonding bill, the legislature and governor have made overtures that they will work together to craft a bill that suits everyone’s priorities. This gives hope to projects like the Mayo Civic Center expansion, which will have a significant statewide and regional [...]

Early Monday morning, the capital investment conference committee completed its bonding bill proposal, which included $32 million for the Mayo Civic Center Expansion. The committee’s bill passed Monday night in the House by a vote of 85-46 and in the Senate by a vote of 47-19. We’d like to thank all area legislators that voted for [...]

Noting the potential for long-term job creation, the Star Tribune Editorial Board threw its support behind bonding for civic center projects, including the Mayo Civic Center expansion.

Funding for the Mayo Civic Center expansion survived a vote in the House yesterday. Despite several amendments that would have stripped funding for the project out of the bill, the $28 million allocation survived. To read more on the House’s vote, click here.

Over the weekend, Rep. Kim Norton (DFL-Rochester) penned an opinion piece in the Rochester Post-Bulletin to voice her support of a substantial bonding bill to put Minnesotans back to work. Norton cited the Mayo Civic Center expansion as one of the projects that would have the greatest impact in southeast Minnesota.