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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Jeff Howe (R)

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Updating transportation, jobs/energy and avian influenza

Friday, April 24, 2015

Dear Neighbor,

Transportation is a focal point this week, with the House passing the Road and Bridge Act of 2015 and MnDOT scheduled to hold a nearby open house to show its plans for expanding Highway 23 to four lanes between Paynesville and New London.

The MnDOT meeting will be 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 28 at Roseville Township Hall in Hawick, just over the western border from our District 13A. Citizens are welcome to attend the meeting to receive information and weigh in on the project, which aims to close one of two key bottlenecks along Highway 23 between Willmar and Interstate 94. Click here for more from the Paynesville Press on this subject.

As for transportation news from the Capitol, the Road and Bridge Act of 2015 the House passed this week is the main part of a comprehensive $7 billion, 10-year transportation package.

Among key provisions in the package is legislation I authored which places general sales tax revenue already paid on the purchase of parts into a new Transportation Stability Fund. That fund would pay for improvements on roads and bridges, small-city roads, bus service in Greater Minnesota and more. It is estimated the proposal – along with dedicating other general sales tax dollars already paid on auto parts – would generate approximately $2.57 billion over the next 10 years.

One of the big differences between separate proposals the House and Gov. Mark Dayton are offering is the House legislation does not include a tax increase. The governor's plan would raise the gas tax by a minimum of 16 cents per gallon at current prices.

Minnesotans have made it clear they want better roads but oppose more tax increases. This transportation package shows we can make roads and bridges a priority and support them accordingly by using resourcefulness and ingenuity using taxes already collected instead of just going back to the taxpayers for more.

Cities with populations of fewer than 5,000 residents would receive a combined $282 million for transportation-related projects through the House plan. Together, municipalities in District 13A alone would receive around $425,000 annually. Here is a rundown of approximated distribution in our area: Avon, $41,718; Cold Spring, $94,051; Eden Valley, $37,802; Kimball, $34,718; Paynesville, $69,737; Richmond, $45,581' Rockville, $102,000

Over the next 10 years, the Road and Bridge Act of 2015 prioritizes repairing or replacing an estimated 15,500 lane miles for all roads and 330 bridges statewide. The plan also increases funding by two-and-a-half times – to $812 million – for road-and-bridge projects to help traffic flow more freely in corridors of commerce throughout the state.

There are bottlenecks in our district – such as on Highway 23 – that need to be cleared up to both improve safety and help us deliver products and services. Increased traffic on some of our local roads has created dangerous stretches and this transportation plan would help us address those.

In addition to the dedicated funds provided by the Transportation Stability Fund, the Road and Bridge Act of 2015 uses $1.3 billion in Trunk Highway bonds, $1.2 billion from realigning Minnesota Department of Transportation resources, $1.05 billion in General Obligation bonds, and $228 million in General Funds. The legislation now goes to the Senate for its action.

This bill now is in the hands of a joint House-Senate conference committee set up to reconcile differences between each body's transportation proposals. A bill the House passed this week pertaining to jobs and energy also is at that stage.

The gist of the jobs/energy bill is that it focuses on making energy cleaner and more affordable, as well as developing market-rate workforce housing and providing broadband Internet funding to continue job growth and technology expansion in Greater Minnesota.

On another note, the House recently took special action to pass $900,000 in emergency funding to help us combat a statewide outbreak of avian influenza among turkey flocks. Disappointingly, the Senate added additional, unrelated legislation to the relief bill which passed the House. That has caused the bill to be hung up in a conference committee, slowing the enactment process and delaying providing aid to our farmers.

This issue keeps getting bigger – with at least 16 counties impacted. Out of more than 500 poultry feedlots (150 large commercial feedlots) in Stearns County, nine turkey operations have tested positive. A poultry feedlot can refer to either a turkey operation or a chicken operation. Our county has already lost more than 500,000 turkeys to this disaster.

The governor called a peace time state of emergency this week. Work will continue this session and beyond to determine appropriate actions and funding necessary to mitigate the impacts of avian influenza now and in the future. Federal, state and local officials are working together but there still are more questions than answers to what is causing this outbreak and why it is spreading. Maybe the most immediate relief/solution would be a string of warm days which, we are told, would kill avian influenza.

Good luck,

Jeff