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State Representative Joyce Peppin
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-7806
For more information contact: Austin Bleess 651-296-5529
NEWS COLUMN
MAKE TRANSPORTATION A PRIORITY
By Joyce Peppin
State Representative
The tragedy of the I-35W bridge collapse has given us a renewed focus on transportation funding. Just a few short hours after the bridge fell, transportation funding came under intense scrutiny. In my time at the Legislature I have fought for transportation to take a higher priority in the budget debate, especially for key projects like the Brockton Ave Interchange and Hwy. 610. Now is the time for the Legislature to reevaluate the state's priorities.
This past session the Legislature spent 0.7 percent of the $34.5 billion state budget on transportation. That comes to a total of $249 million. That number is astonishingly low, especially when compared to other areas of the budget.
Health and Human Services (HHS), on the other hand, receives 28.1 percent of the budget. To put that into a dollar amount it’s about $9.695 billion, or nearly 39 times more than the transportation budget. The HHS budget this year is more than $1.4 billion above the HHS budget of the previous biennium.
Much of this increase in spending is due to the welfare rollbacks and attempts to bring universal health care to Minnesota. Instead of investing in transportation, some in the Legislature would rather increase welfare spending and government dependency. That should never be the goal of government.
Every day people use roads and bridges on their way to work, dropping their kids off at school, or going grocery shopping. Every day thousands of products and packages are shipped through our state in trucks. Tourists from all over the country travel our roads to enjoy the lakes in the summer. We owe it to ourselves to fund transportation as a high priority.
I would like to see the state bond for money to fund transportation projects. Through bonding we are able to infuse millions of dollars into key projects. We can speed up the completion of projects such as Hwy. 610 and the Crosstown Commons. We can keep our roads and bridges in top shape. We can even add lanes to highways to decrease the amount of time we spend in traffic.
House Republicans offered a plan that would have infused more money into transportation. It would have allowed the state to bond for $1.7 billion toward various transportation projects. We could speed the timeline for completion of many of the road and bridge projects around Minnesota before they deteriorate even further by bonding. Sadly, that plan was rejected in favor of a $.075 gas tax increase coupled with a $.05 sales tax increase in the metro and a "wheelage fee" for those who own vehicles.
My caucus has shown a commitment to make transportation funding a high priority without raising taxes. Since the collapse of the bridge, the talk has turned to raising taxes under the claim there isn’t enough money to go around. I fully reject that notion. The state had a $2 billion surplus this biennium. Now is the time to look at the state budget and decide our priorities. Now is the time for the Legislature to live within its means and do away with frivolous spending like Minnesota families do every day.
It’s my goal to make transportation funding a state priority, and to do it without raising taxes. Don't be fooled into thinking it can't be done.
News Items
- PEPPIN REPORT: FORECAST SHOWS THIRD CONSECUTIVE STATE SURPLUS - (Posted: 2012-12-06 00:00:00)
- A Look Ahead to the 2012 Legislative Session - (Posted: 2012-01-26 00:00:00)
- A Call to Caucus - (Posted: 2012-02-04 00:00:00)
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