With near unanimous votes, the Minnesota and Senate approved a tax bill to usher in $103 million in tax cuts and enable southwestern Minnesota to fund its portion of a water piping project.
The bill now heads to Gov. Mark Dayton for his signature.
The measure's tax relief comes in addition to the income and business tax cuts legislators approved a few months ago.
"This is a good bill," Senate Taxes Committee chair Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook.
The tax bill won particular plaudits from Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake.
"I simply want to say: thank you, thank you, a thousand thank yous," Hamilton said.
His parched southwestern districts is among those due to benefit from the Lewis and Clark water project, which became a linchpin of this year's legislative session.
Finding $22 million in state funding for the project and developing policy language allowing local governments to raise money to pay their shares caused a melee among lawmakers in the waning hours. But, with just hours to go before expected adjournment, lawmakers and the Dayton administration worked it out.
