This is fantastic news:

Today, Governor Dayton and the Leaders of the Republican and DFL Caucuses in the House and Senate reaffirm that there is not majority support in either body for an exemption from a voter referendum…

Governor Dayton said, “Last Friday’s meeting was very significant in eliminating one proposed source of financing for a People’s Stadium in either Ramsey County or Minneapolis, unless the Vikings are willing to endure the time delay and continuing uncertainty in obtaining voters’ approval. Given this reality, we are now actively assessing and discussing with the team other financing options.”

As bad an idea as it is to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars to a profitable company run by a billionaire, the mechanism of financing it through a single-county sales tax was just as bad. A stadium that is supposedly a benefit for all the citizens of Minnesota should not be financed by taxing the citizens of only one county, leaving everybody else to enjoy all of the benefits but share none of the responsibility.

The legislature deserves a lot of credit for killing this proposal. One of the reasons why this financing mechanism is so crummy is that it would be easy for legislators from counties other than Ramsey to support it. They could ensure that the financing gets done, without having to face a backlash for taxing their own constituents.

Of course, I don’t love exotic financing schemes like a Minneapolis casino, either. If we’re going to pay for this stadium, everyone should pay — we should implement a small statewide tax for the stadium. But at least proposals like expanded gambling, while relying on a small minority to finance the stadium instead of all Minnesotans, finance it on the backs of willing participants instead of unwilling. That’s a small step forward.