It’s all about jobs this year at the Minnesota Legislature.

Democrats who run the place are working the employment angle into almost every proposal, from skating rinks to tax policy. They made it clear when the session started last week that they will wait to turn their attention to a projected $1.2 billion deficit until state officials update their budget forecast in early March.

The Senate is poised to vote Tuesday on a $1 billion construction projects bill intended to put thousands to work on new and upgraded college classrooms, sewer systems, trails and bridges.

On Monday, Senate President James Metzen unveiled a $50 million bill designed to create thousands more jobs by spurring investment in startup companies, historic fix-ups and energy-efficient buildings through tax incentives.

"This is a jobs bill, no matter what party you’re with," said Metzen, a Democrat from South St. Paul.

At a separate news conference, the backers of the Red Rock commuter rail line from Hastings to the Twin Cities also framed their request for a park-and-ride lot and commuter bus service in terms of employment.

"This is about investing in jobs," said Democratic Sen. Katie Sieben of Newport.

How many jobs? Sieben and the other Red Rock supporters don’t have a number yet.

Supporters of Metzen’s bill said it would create thousands of jobs, though they also didn’t have a more exact number.

"We really can’t put a number on it other than it will jump-start an economy that’s in desperate need of it," said Harry Melander, president of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council and a member of a labor-business coalition that worked on the bill.

One piece of Metzen’s bill, a state tax credit for historic preservation projects, would put an estimated 1,300 to 1,500 to work on renovations, said Bonnie McDonald, who heads the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota.

The jobs numbers are bigger for the bonding bill _ but still not specific.

House Capital Investment Committee Chairwoman Alice Hausman resisted pinning down a total when asked about the House’s $1 billion public works bill, which is similar but not identical to the Senate version.

"We used to say a billion-dollar bonding bill puts 10,000 people to work," said Hausman, a Democrat from St. Paul. "By some people’s formulas, it could be twice that. And then it depends on whether you count all of the residual sorts of impacts that one construction project has."

Republicans are skeptical of the claims _ and of the kinds of jobs that would be created.

"Do bonding bills really develop and sustain long-term jobs? We don’t think that they do. Obviously they do create jobs that can be rather temporary," Senate Minority Leader David Senjem said at a Friday media briefing.

GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty _ whose own construction proposal topped out at $685 million _ has downplayed the job creation aspects of the public works package, saying it shouldn’t be the state’s main employment strategy.

Pawlenty has veto power to strip individual projects from the bonding bill or reject the whole thing if he doesn’t like it.