Capitol Notebook for Tuesday April 5, 2005

GOPHER STADIUM Football coach Glen Mason helped nudge the Gopher stadium plan closer to reality Monday, telling a supportive House Higher Education Finance Committee it will be a powerful tool for recruiting players and building school spirit.

On a unanimous vote, the committee approved a bill providing $7 million a year from the state toward the $235 million on-campus stadium. The same bill is coasting through the Senate as well.

Mason told lawmakers that he views the stadium as "an absolute necessity, not as a luxury." He and school officials described plans for it as austere, and said they don't want it to have a domed roof.

Mason, the coach for nine seasons, said the cavernous Metrodome deprives his team of the same type of homefield advantage other colleges enjoy. And he said scheduling games has become harder with the Twins and Vikings getting preference.

"We need some help," he said.

The bill calls for the university to pay 60 percent of the total cost while the state pays 40 percent. The university plans to get its share from private donations, student fees and parking and other game-day sources of revenue. Already, TCF Bank has pledged $35 million for naming rights.

That pledge expires if no action is taken by the end of 2005, university chief financial officer Richard Pfutzenreuter said. He said legislative approval this year would allow the new stadium to be ready for play in fall 2008.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Ron Abrams, R-Minnetonka, said he will resist any attempts to tack a Twins or Vikings stadium finance plan onto the Gopher proposal. No hearings have been held this year on stadium plans for either pro team.

MINIMUM WAGE Democrats who back a higher minimum wage tried to bypass a key House committee on Monday and bring the issue directly to the House floor. They failed on a 66-66 vote.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, said he's been waiting for a committee hearing on the legislation since January. He wanted to pull his bill out of the House Commerce and Financial Institutions Committee, setting the stage for a vote by the full House.

Democratic House Minority Leader Matt Entenza cast the issue as one of fairness for "the people who can no longer make ends meet because the minimum wage has not been raised."

Republicans said Rukavina should stick with the committee process. Rep. Tim Wilkin, R-Eagan, chairman of the commerce committee, promised to hear the proposal in his committee this week.

The Senate already approved a two-stage increase in the minimum wage in February, raising the hourly minimum to $7 by July 2006. The minimum wage has been at $5.15 since 1997.

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