State Senator Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin, and other members of the Minnesota Senate Capital Investment Committee will tour area projects that are requesting state financial assistance from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday. The tour includes a stop in Austin.

The Capital Investment Committee tours the state to review community requests every two years. Traditionally, most bonding allocations are made during the second year of a legislative biennium, which begins Feb.

4, 2010.

The tour includes a stop from 3 to 3:30 p.m. at the Board of Water and Soil Resources in Austin for a presentation on the Reinvest in Minnesota program.

Other stops include the Albert Lea City Hall from 4 to 5 p.m. to hear the Sargeant Community Center presentation and the Freeborn County Courthouse from 5 to 5:30 p.m. for a presentation of public housing rehabilitation.

“We’re lucky to have the committee in our district to show them first-hand how important these projects are to our community,” Sparks said. “I look forward to showing them how our region has succeeded in the past, and ways that these new projects can contribute to our future.”

The committee’s Freeborn and Mower County stops coincide with a three-day tour of the Southeast Minnesota region. Senators will continue evaluating other areas of the state throughout the fall, and will begin approving bonding requests when the Legislature reconvenes in February.