ST. PAUL – State Rep. Linda Runbeck, R-Circle Pines, has accepted an appointment from fellow House Republicans to chair the newly created Transportation and Regional Governance Policy Committee.
Runbeck’s appointment on Tuesday comes as House Republicans shuffle their personnel deck and set a new committee structure for the 2017-18 biennium. Runbeck said the committee she'll be chairing is an extension of her prior work done on Met Council issues as head of the House Subcommittee on Metropolitan Council Accountability and Transparency.
“This new committee will be heavily transportation and transit-based,” Runbeck said. “It certainly is a timely topic, given where the metro area and the state in general are terms of important transportation policy decisions and their impacts on state and regional entities. Choices we make today will have a significant bearing in shaping the metro and state for many years to come.
“I am honored and grateful for this opportunity to serve as chair of a House committee that has such close ties with the local and regional governments I have worked so closely with over the years. We are at a pivotal point in time and I look forward to building bipartisan solutions as we plan our future.”
The Legislature is scheduled to convene at the Capitol in St. Paul Jan. 3, with Republicans gaining a Senate majority in addition to retaining control of the House.
-30-