Legacy funds are left hanging at Legislature

In the waning hours of an unsettled 2011 session, the Minnesota Legislature early Tuesday left one more item unfinished: $450 million in spending over the next two years on the outdoors, clean water, parks and trails and arts and cultural heritage.

Though the Senate overwhelmingly passed a Legacy funding proposal earlier Monday, the House adjourned at midnight without voting on the proposal despite hours of late evening debate. As the House ended the five-month session, a dejected Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, chief House author of the Legacy proposal, sat motionless.

Although the money involved, raised under the state's Legacy Amendment, is considered separate from the state budget, it was again dragged into the larger political drama over the $5.1 billion state deficit. Under a last-minute provision, none of the Legacy money designated for state agencies could be spent until the Republican-controlled Legislature and DFL Gov. Mark Dayton end their budget impasse and resolve the deficit.

"This bill's meaningless" until there is an overall budget solution, House Minority Leader Paul Thissen said as DFLers spent hours criticizing the legislation until the House adjourned at midnight.

Several legislators, including Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk, had bristled at the spending of the funds while Minnesota looked at a possible government shutdown of basic state services. "It's $450 million that's [being spent] before we have a budget," said Bakk, DFL-Cook. "It just seems like an odd priority."

Earlier in the day, the Senate had passed the Legacy funding bill, 54-11.

Passed in 2008, the Legacy Amendment raised state sales taxes for the next quarter century for projects in four broad categories: the outdoors, clean water, parks and trails, and arts and cultural heritage.

Legacy money also led to a well-publicized outburst at the State Capitol -- House Majority Leader Matt Dean's description of author Neil Gaiman, who received $45,000 in Legacy money a year ago for a speaking appearance. Dean said that Gaiman, "who I hate," was a "pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota." Dean later apologized for the remarks.

Open meeting question

Much of the late evening controversy in the House dealt with the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, an advisory group that recommends Legacy money for outdoors projects. The council has been criticized for having members who also belong to outdoors organizations that are requesting funding, and who in some cases have voted for the projects.

In what proponents described as a mostly technical change, the advisory council was removed from being covered by the state's open meeting law and instead would simply have its meetings "open to the public."

The open meeting law "has caused some concerns," Greg Knopff, a staff member, told a House-Senate conference committee. "A member of the Lessard-Sams Council cannot [under the law] e-mail all the other members.

He and others said the change would simply make the Lessard-Sams council align with other advisory state councils regarding open meeting laws, but House DFLers said the change was both significant and a mistake.

Making up for other money?

Addressing an ongoing complaint, Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, chairman of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, assured legislators that Legacy money was not being used by state agencies to replace money lost in budget cuts. Throughout the five-month session, some legislators had argued that the funds were being increasingly used in that way.

"We cannot be tempted to use these funds to plug holes in our budget," said Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria.

Rep. Jean Wagenius, DFL-Minneapolis, disagreed, however, and said that one agency, the state Board of Water and Soil Resources, will see Legacy money go from making up 49 percent of its budget to 77 percent of the total.

Mike Kaszuba • 651-222-1673

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