The Senate Tax Committee has started its hearing on the Vikings Stadium bill this afternoon (Friday) as the legislature nears the imminent end of its 2012 session.

To see a live video, click on to the following link from The UpTake: http://www.theuptake.org/?p=53659.

Rep. Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville, told Roseville Patch today that she remains opposed to the current stadium bill. "There is nothing wrong with the stadium," she said. "It just should be funded with private money."

Greiling said the best guess is that the legislature will adjourn on Monday, April 30.

Greiling has previously contended that the state still owes Minnesota school districts some $3 billion because of shifts in promised funding and it also needs to deal with an anticipated budget deficit in the next biennium.

Meanwhile Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, has been a long-time opponent of public subsidies for building new stadiums. He recently offered a bi-partisan plan that would essentially sell the Metrodome site to the Vikings for a $1 in exchange for the football team spending its own money to build a new stadium there. However, that plan has not gotten any traction.