Text: TO: Members of the Legislative Commissionon Planning and Fiscal PolicyFROM: Jill M. Schultz, Senate ResearchRE: Minnesota's Legislative Building Commission* Because of difficulties the legislative and executivebranches experienced putting together a capital budget in1955, an interim building commission was created to studythe state's building -needs. The group returned to theLegislature in 1957 and recommended it create a permanentbody to carryon the work, and the Legislative BuildingCommission (LBC) was born.* From its creation until it was abolished in 1973, theLBC was the main player in the state's capital budgetingprocess.* The commission was comprised of five Senators andfive House.members who for the most part were the chairsof the divisions of the Senate Finance and House AppropriationsCommittees. The minority party of each housewas also represented on the commission and the Commissionerof Administration was an ex officio member.* The commission made a list of all proposed statebuilding projects and spent the interim between thebiennial sessions traveling the state and making sitevisits to all of them.* The commission had a rule that no appropriation for aproject could be included in a bill unless the site hadbeen visited, which gave legislative leaders a right tosay no to an appropriation request that came up on shortnotice. Typically it took four to six years from thefirst time the commission visited the project until itrecommended the project for planning.* The LBC submitted its recommendations to the Legislatureand through the Department of Administration, to the Governor. The Governor would approve or modify the recommendations and they becamehis capital bonding bill. With very few exceptions, governors incorporated the LBC recommendations intact into their bill.* The LBC bonding bills typically had the support of theGovernor and key members of both houses' money committees andfaced little opposition in the Legislature.* The LBC was abolished in 1973 and its responsibilities weretransferred to the chairmen of the Senate Finance and HouseAppropriations Committees. A variety of reasons have been givenfor its demise such as a decreasing need to build state buildingsbecause of lower population growth and declining enrollments, andthe displeasure of some with specific projects which received LBCapproval.* The LBC closely fits one of the National Conference of StateLegislature's reform suggestions.JMS:lkl