Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton stood before the media on Wednesday afternoon to address an error that will, among other things, delay approval of Minnesota United’s new stadium. He explained that in the legislature’s rush to finish an omnibus tax bill in the final hours of the session, they created a wording mistake that would short the state over $100 million in the next three years. He also announced that unless that error was corrected and a special session was agreed upon by all four caucus leaders, he would not sign the bill.
That same tax measure contained the property tax exemption for the Minnesota United stadium that the team has proposed to build on the Midway area bus barn site in the city of St. Paul.
Team owner Bill McGuire had said previously that the stadium would most likely not get built without a property tax exemption.
“It’s a $101 million dollar error,” said Dayton holding out a document. The error was a single word “or” that should have been “and” which would cost the state revenue. It was intended to help pay for the Vikings new U.S. Bank Stadium through gaming.
Dayton cited the pocket veto which allows him 14 days to decide if he will approve the measure or not. If he does not sign the bill the “pocket veto” allows the governor to ignore the bill without providing a reason. The bill would then be registered as a veto. “I have until next Monday to sign it. So I’ll wait and see the response from the four caucus leaders. But I’m not going to sign a bill as it is now,” Dayton said.
The error was the turning factor in the legislation according to the Minnesota governor. He explained that he would otherwise have signed it even though he was still unhappy with the $30 million tax break given to tobacco companies. “I don’t agree with that but I don’t expect to agree with everything in a tax bill,” he said.
“We can have the special session next week, or as soon as they are willing to agree to these requirements.”
Dayton was asked about the Minnesota United stadium tax exemption. Dave Montgomery of the Pioneer Press mentioned that the error made in the funding of the Vikings stadium-related provision could sink the Minnesota United soccer stadium. “I don’t think this decision means it has to be sunk unless someone sinks it,” Dayton said. “You’ve got four caucus leaders that are willing to take responsibility for the caucuses. If they agree to keep the tax bill limited to what needs to be corrected they can fix that by prior agreement or pass a new bill with those provisions altered in very short order. We can have the special session next week, or as soon as they are willing to agree to these requirements.”
Dayton seemed to be using the bill as leverage for a special session in which he made 19 demands that he claimed had to be included in special session tax bill. When asked if he was willing to make concessions on his demands he seemed to back down a bit. “Well, I’m going to stand with what I said, they need all these things to be in there.” He then added, “but we will have to see what happens.”
Dayton said he would have a conversation with the four caucus leaders in the next four days to see if they could agree on a special session.
While the governor did not seem certain yet that the bill could be amended to fix the error, House Speaker Kurt Daudt had already responded to Dayton during his press conference. In a letter to the governor, he said he believed the drafting error “could be remedied without new legislative action.” Daudt also agreed with one of the Governor’s demands to reinstate the funding for the Minnesota State High School League tax exemption. When read excerpts from Daudt’s letter Dayton exclaimed optimistically, “So far it sounds good. That’s new information. I’m glad for his response.”
Not long afterward it was tweeted that Senate Minority Leader David Hann said he would not agree to a special session if Dayton held fast to a “non-negotiable spending demands.”
Senate Minority Leader @davidhann to @GovMarkDayton: "I cannot agree to your multi-page list of non-negotiable spending demands.” #mnleg
— David H. Montgomery (@dhmontgomery) June 1, 2016
Daudt conducted an impromptu press conference on the steps of the State Office Building moments after Dayton’s press conference. When asked how Dayton’s demands for a special session and the added costs to the state would go over with his party, he didn’t mince words. “Like a lead balloon probably,” said Daudt.
“We were in agreement on the two things that he [Dayton] had concerns about in the tax bill. That should free up or get us to an agreement on the tax bill and he can now sign that bill.”
“The one provision we believe can be fixed, the one where the word is different… but the other one, the money for the high school league obviously would require a special session. We are happy to do that,” continued Daudt.
“We will do one of them by letter if that’s acceptable to the governor or if we can’t get to the agreement on a special session we would agree to have a special session just for that purpose.
“I don’t want the governor to feel like he can’t sign the tax bill because there is disagreement on those two issues. There are not. I think we just want to be clear about that. We will fix them as expeditiously as possible,” concluded Daudt.
Clearly the situation is fluid with posturing from both sides. Political insiders at the capital seem to think the bill could still get corrected and signed before Monday’s deadline.
That bill would allow Minnesota United to not only sell liquor on game days but could allow the team to open the supporters bar and food section during the week.
Earlier in the day the Governor signed the supplemental tax bill that included the liquor license for the Minnesota United stadium. That bill would allow Minnesota United to not only sell liquor on game days but could allow the team to open the supporters bar and food section during the week. It would also allow the team to cater special events at the stadium that could include liquor sales.
Minnesota United declined to comment on the ongoing situation and the City of St. Paul Mayor’s office did not return a phone call.
Leave a Reply