By Mike Kaszuba

Rep. Loren Solberg, the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said Monday that legislation authorizing public subsidies for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium might be introduced this week, but said legislators first needed to solve problems surrounding the state health and human services budget.

"We need to get [the] health and human services budget off the plate first," said Solberg, DFL-Grand Rapids. "I've told the Vikings that. Nothing's going to happen until we get that [health and human services] agreement done. It doesn't mean we won't have some introduction [of a Vikings stadium bill] maybe early on."

Solberg said he would "supposedly" be the chief House author of the Viking stadium bill, which has been the subject of much speculation as the Legislature enters its final three weeks. "We'll see what happens. I don't know if there'll be anything this week," he said Monday.

"We're trying our best to do this," he added. "We've got some fiscal analysts to make sure our numbers are correct. . .that's taken a little bit of time.

"We're [also] listening to what the governor's office is saying, on how it should be structured," said Solberg.

With the Legislature moving close to adjournment, and with details of a stadium proposal still not clear, the push by the Vikings for legislation authorizing public subsidies yet this year has come under criticism from some legislators. Vikings owner Zygi Wilf recently met with as many as 20 legislators in private to discuss the team's chances at the State Capitol, but the Vikings and those legislators who attended the meeting have been reluctant to discuss the meeting.

Solberg confirmed that the proposed legislation would lean heavily on user fees -- and might also include a joint powers agreement between two unnamed local units of government. He declined to provide details as to how the joint powers agreement would work, or which local governments might be involved.

"We might look at a joint powers agreement. . .it might be cities and counties in a joint powers agreement," he said.

Solberg said stadium supporters were still studying using taxes now helping to pay for the Minneapolis Convention Center, and said the taxes might help them enlist a local government partner for the stadium project. "We're working on that," he said. "There are some possibilities of local partners."

Hennepin County Board Chair Mike Opat, who led the fight for a countywide sales tax to help finance the newly-opened Target Field for the Minnesota Twins, said that the board has had no discussions about doing the same for a new Vikings stadium. Not only has the board taken no position, Opat said, he added that he's had no "detailed discussions" with legislators on the issue.