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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, February 24, 2014 Page 7 Mayor Roe recessed the meeting at approximately 6:58 p.m. and reconvened at approximately 7:02 p.m. 14. Business Items—Presentations/Discussions a. Discussion with Legislative Representatives Mayor Roe welcomed and recognized State Senator Bev Scalze; Representative Alice Hausman; Representative Jason Isaacson; and State Senator John Marty. Senator Scalze Sen. Scalze reported on twenty trips taken by her Tax Committee statewide to re- view potential projects for funding by State bonding, noting that the committee had received approximately three times more requests based on value compared to available monies. Sen. Scalze advised that she was authoring two bills, one with Representative Isaacson, basically focused on bridges and infrastructure needs. Sen. Scalze recognized that the NE Metro area had not been well-served with funding for transit and/or infrastructure needs; and offered her ongoing sup- port for replacement of the Rice Street bridge over I-694 and two interchange re- placements on I-35W near TCAAP anticipating future development in that loca- tion. Sen. Scalze thanked the City of Roseville for two letters she had received and re- tained, offering the City's support of sale tax exemptions on municipal purchases; and another supporting legislation authorizing establishment of street improve- ment districts, with the former having succeeded and the latter not successful. Sen. Scalze encouraged the City to continue contacting her with ideas or issues needing her attention. Representative Hausman In the context of this legislative session, Rep. Hausman expressed her interest in undoing some bad habits and setting a course to retain a more stable and sustaina- ble financial picture, restoring cash flow accounts to certain levels. Rep. Haus- man noted that funds had been restored to the airport fund allowing MnDOT to make other investments around the state, as well as repaying schools their funds. As others compare the economies of MN with, as an example the State of WI, Rep. Hausman opined that MN was measuring better than them due to being will- ing to invest in education in the last session; with education and infrastructure re- maining the top priorities. Rep. Hausman noted that the bonding bill had not passed last year, and was harder to pass than other legislation as it required a su- per majority vote, and the House was five votes short of the required eighty-one votes. Rep. Hausman noted that the refurbishing of the Capitol building was a big task and a large investment need that tended to overshadow other things, even though it was only one project,but noted that it would only be done once in a cen- tury. While unfortunate that it appeared to be getting in the way of other things,