Photo by Deb Gau Sen. Gary Dahms took questions from students at Southwest Minnesota State University on Wednesday during a visit to campus.

MARSHALL — “It’s going to be an interesting session,” Sen. Gary Dahms told Southwest Minnesota State University students, faculty and administrators. Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, said legislators will soon be working through both policy decisions and deciding how much of $5.3 billion worth of requests for state bonding money will be granted.

Dahms said the Minnesota Senate Capital Investment Committee is still learning more about the projects asking for bonding dollars, and will be continuing its bonding tour in the Twin Cities metro area. With over $5 billion in capital requests statewide, not all the projects will receive bonding money.

“Right now our budget allows us between $700 and $800 million,” Dahms said. He thought there would probably end up being about $1 billion in bonding.

Dahms talked about the Capital Investment Committee’s work along with other legislative issues during a lunch with students and university staff Wednesday at SMSU. The event was organized by the SMSU College Republicans.

“We’ve done a couple of these events,” with Minnesota legislators, said Cory Becker, president of the SMSU College Republicans. Besides area legislators, guest speakers have included former Minnesota lieutenant governor Michelle Fischbach.

“It’s always good to hear from them what they’re doing at the Capitol,” Becker said. It’s also a chance to ask questions and talk to lawmakers from southwest Minnesota. “Typically, students don’t get that one-on-one interaction.”

Dahms said 2020 will be both a bonding year and a policy year for the Minnesota Legislature.

“There’s a big difference with the policy we see moving forward in the Senate and the policy moving forward in the House,” he said. Dahms said some of the big policy differences will be over issues like mining, as well as social issues.

Dahms said another question facing the Legislature is whether there will be a supplemental budget this year.

“Fortunately, we have been in a surplus atmosphere for a while now,” Dahms said. It’s not certain, but Dahms said he thought there will likely be a surplus and a supplemental budget in 2020.

Higher education funding was one area that SMSU students and staff asked Dahms about. Dahms said that while education and health and human services make up a large portion of the state budget, higher education isn’t getting as much focus as education in early childhood through 12th grade.

“We have to find ways to beef up the higher-ed some,” Dahms said. He said there are also questions of fairness, over whether schools and colleges in rural areas have the same options as those in urban areas.

At the same time, Dahms said the rising cost of programs like Medicaid, as more people use them, also puts pressure on state budget decisions.

Becker asked Dahms if there were other big issues ahead in the next legislative session.

“There’s a lot of issues with agriculture right now,” Dahms said. While state government isn’t involved with farm subsidies, he said, Minnesota could still try to help struggling farmers through the Rural Finance Authority. For example, funding for low-interest loans could be expanded. The number of mental health professionals who work with farmers could also be expanded, he said.