outdoor060706

House offers compromise on outdoors amendment

House leaders agree to higher sales taxes for outdoors, clean water but leave arts, parks programs out of the funding. Senate may respond on Thursday.

By Mark Brunswick, Star Tribune

Last update: June 7, 2006 - 12:10 AM

In a move to get the issue on the ballot in November, House leaders on Tuesday proposed adding on to the existing state sales tax and dedicating funding for both the outdoors and clean water programs in the state's constitution.

The plan would ask voters to approve an additional one-sixteenth of 1 percent sales tax for clean water funding and an additional one-sixteenth for fish and wildlife funding.

Senate leaders are considering the offer and will respond by Thursday.

If they agree, the stage could be set for a possible special legislative session to address an issue that has been pushed for years by groups of outdoor enthusiasts and conservationists.

House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, and other leaders broke from House Republican caucus ranks to make the unusual proposal of increasing the state sales tax. Voters would decide whether to approve the plan in November as an amendment to the state constitution.

The House offer leaves out funding for arts programs and parks and trails, which had been included in a proposal that failed in the recently completed legislative session. It also reduces the ballot issue to one question, rather than two, which the House previously had proposed.

Outdoor groups, in particular, have been pushing for the constitutional dedication for more than eight years.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said he would consider calling a special legislative session to pass a constitutional amendment proposal, but only if both House and Senate leadership could agree ahead of time.

"Our best chance of making a decision was today. To make a decision on the things you hold in common," Sviggum said after the meeting broke up.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, said excluding arts groups and parks and trails programs from the funding package could prove problematic for passage in the Senate and any defeat would set back the proposal in future years. The Senate may make a counteroffer on Thursday, Johnson said.

"We're gaining ground," Johnson said. "This is not trying to put cold water on the issue. We're not trying to run the clock out."

Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung said the governor's office remains willing to consider a special session if there is an "air tight agreement" for quick action in a brief session.

"In the meantime, we'll allow legislative leaders the opportunity to work with their caucuses to see if an agreement can be reached," McClung said.

Mark Brunswick • 651-222-1636