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House leaders back mall expansion
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The Mall of America's massive expansion plans built momentum today as top Republican and DFL legislators endorsed the project before cheering construction workers, saying it would create thousands of jobs in a stagnant economy.
Both House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, and House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, were greeted with applause as they spoke in a State Capitol rotunda crowded with sign-waving construction workers wearing hard hats. Kelliher said afterward that she expects the mall's $2.1 billion proposal -- which includes public subsidies -- to be part of a conference committee tax bill that will be presented to Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Today's events made it likely that the House Taxes Committee -- whose chairwoman, Rep., Ann Lenczewski, opposes the public subsidy component -- would be bypassed as the mall's supporters seek to move the proposal through the Legislature.
Rep. Michael Nelson, DFL-Brooklyn Park, House author of the public financing piece of the mall proposal, said it was unlikely the plan would be introduced in Lenczewski's committee in order to avoid a defeat that would slow its momentum. "I'm not sure there are enough votes there," Nelson said.
With the Senate having already approved the mall proposal as part of a sweeping tax bill, the issue may not officially come up in the House and may instead be included in the House-Senate taxes subcommittee.
The governor has not indicated this year whether he supports the mall's proposal.
The mall's plans to add 5.6 million square feet include a provision under which money that normally goes to a metrowide fiscal disparities pool would instead be used to help pay for a $204 million parking ramp that would accompany the expansion.
Mike Kaszuba • 612-673-4388
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