Senate DFL cuts $100 million from original bonding bill, reveals counter offer

The Senate DFL offered a new $1.4 billion bonding bill Saturday morning to counter the House's recently-failed $800 million bonding bill, the Senate Capital Investment Committee said in a release.

The chair of the committee, Sen. LeRoy Stumpf (DFL-Plummer) calls the new bill a compromise.

The new bill lowers the bonding amount by more than $100 million with cuts to higher education, the department of natural resources as well as public safety, among others.

The final bonding bill will be decided by legislative leaders, and to pass it must get a two-thirds supermajority. Lawmakers are down to the wire, as they have until 12:01 a.m. on May 23 to pass this, and any other bills, before the end of the session.

"The existing projects and funding are a reflection of the critical needs facing communities across our state. We can’t just ignore these projects – that without funding still need to be done – as they will place an enormous undue burden on the residents of small communities if the state does not step up and assist," Stumpf said in the release. "The Governor and members of the Senate DFL believe a bill of this size is absolutely necessary to meet the demands of our local governments across the state."

The House GOP proposed their $800 million dollar package on Wednesday, but it failed by 12 votes on Thursday, the Star Tribune reported.

Their proposal would have borrowed more than $800 million to fund the projects. Nearly one-third of the money ($227 million) would go to local road and bridge projects, $130 million would be dedicated to water infrastructure projects and $137 million would be for higher education.

You can see the House GOP bonding bill here and the newly-released Senate DFL bill here.