By Dan Sparks, State Senator

On Thursday, Minnesota&8217;s state economic experts announced the February budget forecast. They do this in November and February of every year to give lawmakers a clear picture of how much money the state has &8212; or doesn&8217;t have &8212; so we can make responsible budget decisions.

This month, the news was not good. The projected budget shortfall for the rest of the 2008-2009 budget cycle is $935 million &8212; that&8217;s $562 million more than was projected in November 2007. The declining financial picture can mostly be attributed to falling home sales, high unemployment and stagnant job growth. These are the same reasons that prompted nonpartisan state economist Tom Stinson to qualify Minnesota&8217;s economy as &8220;in recession&8221; in after seeing the 2007 job statistics released in January.

To address this dire news, the Legislature is focusing on several job-creating bills this session. We have a responsibility to work together to get Minnesota&8217;s economy back on track, and the best way to do that is to create policies that grow jobs and bring business and revenue back to our state.

The transportation bill passed this week will be a will be a significant step forward. It is expected to create thousands of new jobs over the next 10 years, delivering a boost to the construction trade, one of the state&8217;s hardest-hit industries. In addition, better roads and bridges will help businesses move goods across our state more efficiently &8212; one of the main reasons the state Chamber of Commerce backed this bill. The news is good for this part of the state, which is saddled with the highest number of deficient bridges in Minnesota. The $6.6 million package provides $650 million for bridge repairs and $10 million for rural-road safety.

The Legislature also is working on a comprehensive jobs-creating capital investment package that will receive a vote in early March. Bonding bills are prime opportunities to make significant investments in our state&8217;s public infrastructure, all while creating hundreds of new job opportunities in every corner of the state. And, again, our region stands to benefit a great deal from this year&8217;s bonding bill.

Included in the Senate bill is $50 million for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities&8217; Higher Education Asset Preservation fund. Riverland Community College has requested money from this fund to fix the heating/air conditioning/ventilation system in Albert Lea&8217;s campus, and to repair the roof of Building D on Austin&8217;s campus.

In addition, $30 million is dedicated to statewide flood mitigation grants. The city of Austin requested $5 million from this fund; it will be up to a separate panel to decide exactly how to allocate both of these sums of money.

Perhaps the biggest victory is $2.5 million for cleanup at Edgewater Park in Albert Lea. This has been a perennial issue for the community, and the funds are desperately needed. The project is included in the bonding bill twice; once as a stand-alone provision, and once as a direct appropriation from the closed landfill program remediation fund.

Also in the bill, Olmsted County Southeast Minnesota Regional Training Center gets $3.6 million, and although this is located in Rochester, emergency-services personnel from our region use this facility to further there training.

In addition, $40 million is appropriated for wastewater infrastructure funds. The Public Finance Authority will ultimately decide who gets the money, but in the running are Woodhaven, Nicolville &8212; two of the highest locations on the list to be fixed &8212; as well as Austin, Racine, Rose Creek and Lansing Township. This is especially relevant after this week&8217;s news articles shedding light on some of the sewer and wastewater-treatment problems we have in this state, particularly in southern Minnesota.

We hope to have a full Senate vote on this bill next week so the governor can sign the jobs bill as soon as possible. The rest of this session will be very focused on finding ways to balance the budget and invest in more job-creating policies that can help get our state back on track. As always, I welcome your comments or suggestions as we move forward.

Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin, is the state senator for District 27. His column appears every other Sunday during the legislative session.