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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
TRANSPORTATION BILL PASSES, BUT NOT WITHOUT A SIGNIFICANT COST
By Joyce Peppin
State Representative, District 32A
Citing that the state is in a “mild” recession, the Minnesota Department of Finance announced on Feb. 28 the state is facing a deficit of $935 million for the 2007-08 biennium. This deficit isn’t unexpected, but it is disappointing, especially given the legislature began the two-year budget cycle last year with at $2.2 billion dollar surplus.
Despite this bleak news and despite the fact the legislature started the 2008 session just a few short weeks ago (on Feb. 12,) the legislature has already passed almost $7 billion in tax increases in HF 2800, the transportation bill. I think passing this bill in this downward economy will only serve to harm our economy further.
There is no question that we need to make an investment into road and bridge projects. We have not kept up with our transportation needs. I don’t think one member of the Minnesota House or Senate would disagree with that statement.
However, I was shocked when during the first week of session, House Speaker Kelliher announced to the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press that the legislature would have the chance to vote on only one transportation funding bill (HF 2800). If that bill didn’t pass, they said, no other transportation bill would be discussed.
So House File 2800 came forward as the transportation funding bill this year. House and Senate leadership made no attempt to include Republican leadership or the Governor in working out a compromise to address concerns with the bill.
The House took the bill up on the floor in a lengthy floor session that involved many unsuccessful attempts to amend the bill. In the end, House File 2800 passed and included the following provisions: a 8.5 cent gas tax increase; a one-quarter percent increase in sales tax without referendum in the seven county metro area for transit only (no road or bridge projects); a $20 excise tax on newly purchased vehicles in the metro area; an increased license tab fees on newly purchased vehicles, and $1 billion in bonding.
I voted against the bill because I felt it was weighted to heavily toward transit, because the state is facing a $1 billion deficit, because gas prices are expected to hit $4 per gallon by summer, because it raises too many taxes too quickly at a time when people are ill-equipped to pay for them, and because we could have put together a much better bill. HF 2800 amounts to digging into the pockets of Minnesotans through escalating and recessive tax increases. It is irresponsible.
The bill was vetoed by Governor Pawlenty and was immediately returned to the House for a veto override. I voted to uphold the Governor’s veto, but in the end the veto override was successful.
We do need to find a solution to funding our transportation system, but it should have been a solution that didn’t come so heavily at the expense of taxpayers. States throughout the nation are using innovative measures to generate resources for transportation maintenance and growth without raising billions of dollars in taxes. We should have done the same.
I have consistently supported measures that would bring immediate dollars into the transportation system through trunk highway bonds, general obligation bonds and other measures, and I have consistently voted no to bonding for pet projects that are not a state priority.
I am extremely disappointed that proposals to the 2008 bonding bill largely ignore road projects and instead include a ski jump in Bloomington, forgiveness for the RiverCenter and the Target Center ($137 million), money for the Duluth Convention Center ($40 million) and the Rochester Civic Center ($37 million), another Polar Bear exhibit, a fish habitat display at the State Fair, and a National Volleyball Center in Rochester. I do not believe anyone can legitimately claim that the benefits of bonding for these projects exceed the benefits provided by strategic investment in our transportation infrastructure.
As always, feel free to contact me with your thoughts or opinions.
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