The legislative session got off to its advertised fast start Tuesday, with big plans that could boost Minnesotans' taxes while fixing their roads and funding popular programs.

Majority DFLers introduced two bills proposing tax increases. One of the measures would fund a multi-billion-dollar roads and transit package and seems destined to produce another showdown with Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

But there may be quick movement on the other proposal, which would ask voters in November whether the state sales tax should be increased to provide money for the outdoors, the environment and the arts. Floor votes on the bill are expected Thursday. "A promise made is a promise kept today," said Majority Leader Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm, the bill's House author.

Lurking in the background, meanwhile, was the prospect of a growing state budget deficit, now projected at $373 million. House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, said Tuesday that she expects the figure to be closer to $800 million when the state's economic forecast is released later this month.

Transportation bill debate

Much of Tuesday's deliberations, however, were spent on the DFL transportation initiative, which would represent an $8.4 billion investment over a decade.

The proposal brought cheers from the labor and construction industry and criticism from some Republicans.

Last summer's collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis was barely mentioned Tuesday.

But DFLers and supporters of the legislation repeatedly characterized the state's transportation infrastructure as being plagued by congestion, potholes and deteriorating bridges.

"We are in a transportation crisis in this state," Eliot Seide, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5, told the Senate Transportation panel. "It cannot wait until tomorrow."

The bill would raise money by increasing license-tab fees, particular on luxury vehicles; usher in the first state gas tax increases in two decades, and levy a half-cent sales tax in the Twin Cities area for transit, roads and bridges. Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, the Transportation Committee chairman, said the proposal "puts political courage above political ambition."

Under the bill, a 2-cent gas tax increase, to 22 cents a gallon, would take effect within a month of passage, followed by another 3-cent rise in September. Those increases would generate $158.7 million a year by 2010. Another increase of up to 2 1/2 cents would be added later and phased out as bonds connected to the transportation package are retired.

DFLers said the gas tax increases would amount to a little more than $40 annually for typical drivers, with lower-income drivers getting up to a $25 tax credit.

House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, said the transportation proposal would be "just take more money coming out of people's pockets." Pawlenty vetoed a similar, smaller transportation bill last year, and Seifert and DFLers agreed that House Republicans, who have 49 seats to the DFL's 85, might hold the key to whether another veto could be overridden.

Sen. Dick Day, R-Owatonna, scolded DFLers and labor leaders for not working with the governor and for minimizing the state's transportation achievements under Pawlenty. "Everybody just slam-dunks the governor, so the governor isn't involved in this package," said Day.

Day also said DFL claims that the proposal would create 33,000 jobs a year were inflated, and disputed testimony by construction industry officials supporting the plan that their members were hurting financially. "I can't believe that everybody in the construction industry is down and out. We're building stadiums" for the Minnesota Twins and University of Minnesota, he said.

Amity on outdoors, arts

The outdoors, environment and arts proposal, meanwhile, was approved by a conference committee and sent to the floor without debate. It will be heard on the House floor Thursday morning and, if it passes, will be sent to the Senate.

Almost a decade in the crafting, it would ask voters whether the state Constitution should be amended to raise the sales tax by 3/8 of 1 percent, with the money dedicated to funding clean water, the arts and natural resources.

If the amendment is approved, the increase would begin in June 2009 and extend until June 2034. If would generate about $276 million a year. The addition to the sales tax would equal about 37 1/2 cents on every $100 purchase.

Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, a supporter of earlier versions of the outdoors bill but now a critic, said he fears that the size of the sales tax increase and the addition of the other requests will prove too burdensome for voters who may be economically strapped.

"They [DFL leadership] are going to jam this down our throats. It's a huge sales tax increase and I don't see the voters approving it," he said. "Then all the work will be lost."

Brian McClung, Pawlenty's spokesman, said the governor was an early supporter of the original outdoor amendment but is resistant to constitutional amendments that dedicate additional sales tax funding. Because the proposal is for a constitutional amendment, however, Pawlenty would have little say because a governor cannot veto such a measure.

Staff Writer Patricia Lopez contributed to this article. Mike Kaszuba • 612-673-4388