Bonding bill compromise inches slightly closer

Legislative staffers are crunching numbers in advance of a meeting of the House Capital Investment Division late this afternoon at which the committee will present a new bonding proposal that DFLers hope Gov. Tim Pawlenty will find more to his liking.

“We haven’t heard from the governor; there’s nothing more substantive than you’ve heard,” said Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul, who chairs the committee. “But by 4:30 this afternoon, we’d like to put on paper a movement toward him with all of the things he wants, plus substantial cuts [in the Legislature's previous bonding package].”

Last week, the DFL-controlled House and Senate approved a $1 billion bonding bill, but when Pawlenty — who has said that he wants a bonding package in the neighborhood of $725 million — threatened to veto it, lawmakers took the unusual step of withdrawing it rather than presenting it to him.

The bill to be discussed this afternoon will include all the items that Pawlenty wanted in the bill, including $89 million for expansion of a sex offender treatment program in Moose Lake.