Thanks to all of the High School students who served as pages at the House this week!
Dear Neighbors,
It was a busy week at the Capitol as a number of large omnibus finance and policy bills were debated and passed by the House. Among the bills passed this week was the Transportation Policy and Finance omnibus bill.
Included in this bill is the Road and Bridge act of 2015. This provision is the major component of our comprehensive, future-oriented approach to transportation improvements here in Minnesota. Our proposal will invest $7 billion over the next decade to repair or replace 15,500 lane miles and 330 bridges across the state, without raising taxes.
More specifically, our proposal makes the following investments:
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$4.03 billion for state roads
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$1.44 billion for county roads
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$583 million for municipal roads
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$282 million for small cities under 5,000
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$139 million for Greater Minnesota bus services
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$60 million for township roads & bridges
Our proposal also creates a new transportation stability fund that takes already existing revenue streams and deposits them into a fund that will dedicate these dollars towards transportation spending. These already existing revenue streams include the sales tax on auto parts, sales tax on rental vehicles, existing rental vehicle tax, as well as the existing Motor Vehicle Lease sales tax.
Transportation Bills Receive Informational Hearing
A number of my bills receive an informational hearing in the Transportation Policy and Finance Committee this week.
House File 1207 & 1799 - These bills provide funds to Anoka County to upgrade Highway 10 from 1990's standards, increasing safety and decreasing congestion in our community. The first bill provides the funding to complete the upgrades for phase 1 of 3 through the corridor. The second bill (which would make the first bill unnecessary) provides funding to complete the preliminary engineering, environmental analysis, land acquisition, final design, construction, and construction engineering and administration for the improvement of Highway 10.
House File 1888- This bill appropriates money for a highway-rail grade separation project in Anoka at the Highway 47 and Ferry street crossing. As more and more trains carrying oil through our communities increase the risk of derailment, the state seems to be taking a greater interest in rail safety. These upgrades will not only decrease the likelihood of an incident, but also, it is my hope, decrease congestion.
House File 2127- Like HF 1888, this bill appropriates money for a highway-rail grade separation project. The crossings that would be receiving upgrades in this bill would be the Ramsey Boulevard crossing in Ramsey as well as the Sunfish Lake Boulevard crossing, which is also located in Ramsey. In conversations with the rail road, city and county, it was determined the best path forward is to do the crossings at the same time.
Anoka County Commissioner Matt Look summarized the problems on Highway 10 for the transportation committee
Community Meeting to be Held on Monday
This Monday, April 27th, the city of Anoka will be holding an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. to discuss the possibility of switching to an organized system of trash collection. The session will take place at Green Haven Golf Course & Event Center, 2800 Greenhaven, Anoka.
If you or anyone you know has interest in this issue, I strongly encourage you to attend. Anoka city staff and trash hauling companies will be on hand at the meeting to discuss the issue and answer any questions you may have.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions, comments, or concerns on anything related to state government. It would be an honor to discuss your ideas on how we can make Minnesota better for everyone. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-1729 or via email at rep.abigail.whelan@house.mn. You can also stay up-to-date on everything that is happening in St. Paul by visiting my Facebook page and Twitter account.
Thank you and enjoy your weekend,
Abigail