MINNEAPOLIS — It's not every day state lawmakers get to see and smell a cramped high school boys hockey locker room, but that experience was an important part of the House Capital Investment Committee's tour of the Apple Valley Sports Arena.
The city and local school district have proposed a $15 million makeover of the arena, which serves two high schools and hosts regional events. They're asking the legislature to provide $6 million in state bonding money, with the remainder being picked up locally.
"The building is almost 50 years old, and we have many things we need to improve including improved locker rooms, including changes here in the physical space where the public gathers," Apple Valley City Administrator Thomas Lawell told KARE.
The Apple Valley show-and-tell was just one of dozens of stops members of the House bonding committee will make as they try to narrow down the list of which public works construction projects will receive funding from the 2024 Legislature.
"We have $7.4 billion worth of bonding requests coming in, and we know we won’t be able to achieve that, so it’s really critical for us to really make sure we make smart and sound investments as we move forward as a state," Rep. Fue Lee, the Minneapolis Democrat who chairs the panel, told KARE.
"Communities are coming to the state because they have a need. I think we have a role in making sure these projects can get going for the local communities."
By the time the 2024 Session begins in February, they will have booked thousands of miles in a tour bus hearing pitches from local community leaders along the way. The average day on the road will last 13 hours, and at times they'll hear proposals from several communities all in one location.
"In the last cycle we spent 18 days on the road looking at projects in all four corners of the state and the metro area," Rep. Dean Urdahl, the ranking minority member on the committee, explained.
In September they ventured north along I-35 with stops at Pine County Technical College, the Duluth Airport, the DEKK Center, Duluth Public Library, University of Minnesota Duluth — all places in need of major upgrades, and all eligible to get a boost from the state in the next bonding bill.
The highlight that day was a visit to the Great Lakes Aquarium which is seeking just under $1 million from the state. It's the aquarium's first bonding request from the state since the late 1990s when it was being built.
Although the facility serves the community of Duluth it's also a regional tourist attraction, with at least 70% of visitors coming from outside city limits.
"It's been 23 years that we've been open, and it definitely needs some upkeep, so we're actually looking for some of these infrastructure projects, some of the aging infrastructure we need to update," Jay Walker, the aquarium's director explained.
Walker and other aquarium staff led lawmakers through the exhibits the public gets to see, including the pool of giant sturgeons that like to be petted by visitors. But they also showed the legislators the underbelly of the facility where a very complex infrastructure keeps those displays running.
"It’s one thing to have the projects on a piece of paper, or to go to the Capitol and explain it, but once they can see the work that you’re hoping to get accomplished it’s a much better opportunity."
These bus tours crisscrossing the state provide an opportunity for lawmakers to get to know their counterparts from the opposite side of the aisle. That's important because the finished product will need bipartisan support to get to the governor's desk.
"There’s a bonding on the bonding committee. I mean this committee is different because we have to be bipartisan," Rep. Urdahl explained.
"All the other bills are simple majority. The majority wins. But for capital investment general obligation bonds, it requires a supermajority to pass it. And so, the Democrats right now have 11 Republican votes to pass a bonding bill."
Because general obligations bonds are a form of borrowing, bonding bills require 60% supermajority to pass. So, the party in control of the legislature will need to bring at least some members of the minority party on board with the construction wish list.
"I think that's great we have Democrats and Republicans on the bus so we can build that relationship that we'll need by the end of the session," Rep. Lee said.
Ultimately, lawmakers will have some tough decisions to make. Typically, the final version of the bonding bill represents just one-fifth of all the requests received by the legislature in that budget cycle.