Dayton and legislative leaders predict tough session

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders clashed on long-running disagreements on education and transportation during a Thursday preview of the session.

"If we do nothing, it'll get worse," Dayton said of Republicans' refusal to consider a gas tax hike to pay for roads and bridges. "If we do something inadequately, it'll get worse.

Dayton and legislative leaders met to outline their priorities for the upcoming session that convenes March 8. The Legislature will have a rushed schedule to negotiate how to spend a $1.2 billion projected budget surplus, as DFLers who control the Senate and Republicans who run the House prepare for a busy election season.

House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, vowed to bring tax relief to Minnesotans, saying that would help rural residents who have economically fallen behind.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said he wants to send more aid to local governments, and he agreed with Dayton that DFLers would keep pressing for state-paid preschool and more affordable higher education.

None of the leaders initially identified the state's racial disparities as among their top priorities, though Dayton said he and Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, had been developing ideas.

Dayton said that when he comes out with his new budget outline, he would have "specific proposals, and there will be a significant amount of resources committed." The governor said he wanted people of color to be included in developing the plans.

Bakk agreed, saying, "I believe those innovative solutions are going to come from the community."

Daudt said he looked at the problem of racial disparities in the same way that he viewed laid-off Iron Range workers, a group all vowed to assist in the first weeks of session.

"We may need to do something in the short-term, but I don't see how you really solve this problem in a meaningful way without looking at it on a long-term basis," Daudt said.

Tensions roiled between Dayton and Daudt in a dispute that started with a Minnesota Chamber of Commerce survey finding that members were concerned about the state remaining a competitive place to do business. Dayton called it a "hatchet job" and said the state had seen a faster economic recovery than its peers.

But Daudt said elected officials owe it to Minnesotans to listen to the people who provide residents good-paying jobs, adding: "I get really sick of people who want to pit this group of people against that group of people for their own political gain."

The two clashed over Dayton's support of universal preschool, and Daudt said such measures don't close the achievement gap.

"It does," insisted the governor, who will push for preschool in the coming session.

After unsuccessfully pushing for a gas tax last session, DFLers expressed some skepticism about reaching an agreement with Republicans on a long-term transportation funding package.

Dayton renewed his call for a gas tax, saying that to address the scope of Minnesota's road problems over the next decade, the state would need assurances that would last beyond this year's budget surplus. Without a gas tax, he questioned how the state would afford to fix its roads.

"Where that revenue comes from, if not a gas tax, I can't say."

Bakk said that with a divided government, both sides would have to consider doing something they felt uncomfortable with to get what they wanted on transportation funding.

But Daudt said both parties should focus on their overlapping interests.

"Let's focus on what matters, and if you do that the funds are there to fund significant money in roads and bridges over the next 10 years," he said.

Maya Rao • 651-925-5043