County highway

bill faces tough

time in Legislature

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

ST. PAUL -- The City of New Ulm's $1.15 million request for helping build the second phase of the recreational bike trail appears headed for inclusion in the State Senate's capital investment bonding bill, after being reported out of the Environment and Agriculture Budget Division as a priority.

The county highways bonding bill, authored by Sen. Dennis Frederickson, R-New Ulm, carrying nearly $141 million in state aid for specific county highway projects apparently is another story.

Frederickson said he was told it was reported out of the Senate Finance Committee's Transportation and Public Safety Budget Division with a "priority" label.

However, a list of the division's recommended measures being forwarded to the Capital Investment Committee, posted on the Internet over the weekend, didn't include S.F. 2515, which features 28 "high priority" county highway and bridge projects from 23 counties around the state.

"I talked with the committee's chairman, Sen. Dean Johnson (DFL-Willmar), and he assured me it was sent out," Frederickson said.

Even if it was, however, the bill appears to have tough sledding ahead.

An aide to Sen. Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon, chairman of the Capital Investment Committee, noted Frederickson's bill was a "late entry as we've been working on the bonding bill since last summer." She said it's possible some projects in Frederickson's bill might show up in the bonding bill "if there is a compelling need for them."

While the Senate's bonding bill hasn't been formulated, it will be very soon. The committee is scheduled to put it into bill form today between 1 and 4 p.m., the aide said.

Rep. James Clark, R-New Ulm, co-author of a companion county highways bill (H.F. 2769) in the House, said, "The purpose of this bill really is to show a great need throughout the state. I hope that people aren't anticipating that it will pass. The Legislature hasn't designated specific highway projects for years because we wanted to take politics out of it."

Clark is co-author of another bonding bill that he believes has an "excellent" chance of passage. The bill proposes $80 million be used to help counties upgrade key roads to 10-ton ratings.

Clark said the funds would be distributed to counties through the Minnesota Department of Transportation districts.

Because MnDOT isn't involved in funding county road projects, Clark said the "mechanics of distributing the money will be worked out."

Clark, an assistant county attorney for Brown County, has introduced two bills dealing with law enforcement. One increases the minimum sentence for second degree criminal sexual conduct to provide for an executed (mandatory) sentence of 90 months; another amends the definition of child endangerment by inserting controlled substance-making laboratories, particularly methamphetamine labs.

Frederickson also has several measures in the legislative fire. One is the Regional Railroad Rehabilitation act (S.F. 2668), an ongoing program, which provides loans to small railroads and cooperative elevators for rebuilding tracks and adding sidings for loading and unloading. Frederickson's proposal would set funding for this year at $6 million.

He also has added a directive to the Department of Natural Resources' State Park Division in its annual initiative to fulfill the terms of its own engineering study conducted at the Fort Ridgely golf course, which opened in 1928. Under Frederickson's directive, the division is to do the repair and rehabilitation called for in its engineering study, as well as improvements like real grass greens.

"The State Park division will get $31 million and, as part of it," Frederickson said, "we're telling them to do their plan which has slipped in priority and make it a priority again."