Bonding conference committee will meet tonight to sweeten Moose Lake dollars

We’re told that Capital Investment Committee conferees will be named in both chambers today, and that the reconstituted conference committee will meet briefly at 6:00 this evening to approve a new bonding bill spreadsheet. Both House and Senate leadership are then hoping to pass the bill on the floor Thursday.

DFL legislative staff sources indicate that the only item that’s likely to change from the bonding bill breakout distributed last Friday is the proposed funding for an expansion of the Minnesota sex offender detention facility in Moose Lake. Gov. Tim Pawlenty had requested $89 million for the Moose Lake expansion, but the last figure offered by legislators was $36 million. One source close to the deliberations said the new number is expected to be “in the mid-$40 millions range.”