St. Paul- On Wednesday, House Transportation Committee Chairman Tim Kelly (R-Red Wing) provided an offer to members of the Transportation Omnibus bill (House File 4) Conference Committee. The compromise is based off of Republicans’ ten-year plan to meet the state’s $6 billion need without raising the gas tax. Notable change-items include:
- Met Council reforms to improve regional planning and accountability for taxpayers
- Additional $45.8 million for Township & Turnback Aid over three years building off the success of the Republican-led Small Cities Aid program of 2015
- Additional $46 million of immediate funding for Corridors of Commerce
- Increased railroad contributions to rail grade separations and data sharing with emergency responders
“Republicans’ goal from the beginning has been a balanced transportation plan that is both future-oriented and supported by the majority of Minnesotans. As a result, we developed and passed a thoughtful solution to adequately maintain and expand our road and bridge infrastructure without raising the gas tax. Today’s offer takes our plan and puts additional dollars into highways, townships roads, turnbacks and makes progress on rail safety. On the transit side, in an effort to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently and effectively, our offer implements common-sense Met Council reforms,” said Chairman Kelly.
The proposal invests $300 million of the $900 million budget surplus in Fiscal Year 2017 and over ten years, spends $2 billion in Trunk Highway and General Obligations bonds. To address the need for dedicated, sustainable funding, the Republican plan creates a special fund called the Transportation Stability Fund that collects existing proceeds from dedicated auto-related tax revenues and deposits them into accounts for each of their dedicated purpose. The offer includes reasonable reforms to the Metropolitan Council to ensure the council is more accountable to Minnesotans including staggered terms for council members, placing local elected officials on the council and on the nominating committee and increasing legislative oversight of transit-related finance decisions.
“A large majority of Minnesotans oppose a gas tax increase. Governor Dayton has said the gas tax is ‘unfair and regressive’ and he has also said ‘a gas tax increase is dead’. I strongly urge Senate Democrats to stop delaying road and bridge funding and present a serious transportation offer without a gas tax increase,” concluded Speaker Kurt Daudt (R-Crown).
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