ST. PAUL — The Minnesota House passed the conference committee version of the Vikings stadium bill early Thursday, May 10, leaving Senate approval as the last obstacle before the bill would head to Gov. Mark Dayton’s desk.

The bill passed 71-60 after about two hours of debate on the floor. Reps. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin, and Rich Murray, R-Albert Lea, both voted for the bill.

The conference committee bill raises the amount the team would pay by $50 million. The team’s contribution is now $477 million, up from $427 million.

That drops the state’s contribution from $398 million to $348 million. Minneapolis’ contribution remains unchanged at $150 million.

Vikings vice president Lester Bagley said the team agrees to the new contribution. “The Vikings and the Wilfs have stepped up,” he said. “We’ve made a commitment to secure this franchise.”

The bill was approved in the conference committee and was taken up on the House floor a little after 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, said she didn’t think the deal was good enough for the public. “I think the state got rolled,” she said.

But Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, said the team “almost undid the deal themselves” because of what the state was requiring, and that any more could drive them away.

The Minnesota Senate is expected to take up the bill after covening about 9 a.m. If it passes in the Senate, it would go to Dayton, who has been key supporter of the bill.

Here is how some other key issues were resolved in the conference committee bill:

— Vikings retain stadium naming

rights.

— St. Paul gets $2.7 million annual payment to offset investment in Minneapolis, likely to help build a new St. Paul Saints ballpark.

— Construction cost overruns are the responsibility of the builder; operating cost overruns are responsibility of public stadium authority.

— Minneapolis retains charter exemption language designed to allow it to spend money to renovate Target Center.

— Sports-themed tipboards survive but are not taxed.

King Wilson, executive director of Allied Charities of Minnesota, said the conference bill retains a split in charitable gaming tax revenue that is less favorable than they wanted: The state would get $59 million per year and the charities would get $13 million.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Wilson said. “At this level, we’re not convinced the machines are going to be economically viable.”

Wilson said it may not make sense for organizations to install electronic pull-tab and bingo games at this level of taxation.

“I hope it’ll be successful,” he said. “I hope we’re wrong.”

The state depends for its share of the stadium funding on taxing new, electronic forms of charitable gaming. Critics have said the funding mechanism is unproven.

Although the House and Senate debated the Vikings stadium bill in public session for nearly 20 hours over the past few days, Wednesday’s action was mostly behind closed doors.

Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, said the process had to be more compressed than it normally would have been but that the bill had had substantial public airing.