by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

A "lights on" transportation finance bill could be the legacy of the 2007 legislative session.

House Transportation Finance Committee Chairman Bernie Lieder, DFL-Crookston, said Thursday (May 17) that an alternative "bare bones" transportation finance bill is ready to go.

"There's no other bill coming except the lights on bill," he Lieder..

"That doesn't take long to do," he said. "And that's where we're prepared to go," he said.

He didn't know exactly where the veto override count was - the 90 votes necessary to override Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of the transportation finance bill. "But if we don't have the numbers, the only alternative we have is a lights on bill," he said.

Two Republican House members, representatives Jim Abeler, of Anoka, and Kathy Tingelstad, of Andover, said Thursday morning they planned to uphold the governor's veto of the transportation bill.

The two lawmakers were seen as possible Republican votes for an override.

Unimpressed with argument

While saying he wasn't angry about the two lawmakers' decision, Lieder explained he was unimpressed with argument that a previewed lack of funding for a district was a good reason for a lawmaker to vote against a transportation bill.

"And I think if we're all parochial we're never going to really pass a bill," said Lieder.

It was Democrats, said Lieder, who helped carry the Northstar Commuter Rail project through when many in the House Republican caucus were opposed.

"There's a classic thing - if it wouldn't have been for the Democrats there wouldn't be Northstar," he said.

"We carried the bill. We put it over for her (Tingelstad). Her caucus didn't support her," said Lieder.

"In Anoka County, that's what re-elected her - for both (Tingelstad and Abeler) of them," he said.

Alternative finance bill

Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, who served on the transportation finance conference committee, said rumors of an alternative transportation finance bill have been circulating in the House. There will not be one, she opined.

"Some people are thinking there's another bus to get on," said Hortman. "We'll see what their decision is - the last bus is pulling out of the station," she said.

The final days of the legislative session are a roller coaster - a series of ups and downs, she said.

"And there's moments where it's darkest before the dawn," said Hortman, upbeat.

The Republicans who were seen as possible veto override votes ran for office as get-the-job-done lawmakers.

The public doesn't see these type of lawmakers until the tough votes, she opined. "The cream rises to the top," she said.

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, said Thursday morning a veto override attempt would not take place in the House that day.

(Photo by T.W. Budig, ECM Capitol Reporter)