Happy New Year! Lawmakers returned to the State Capitol on January 6 to be sworn into office, meaning the 2015 session is now officially underway.
It remains such an honor to serve as your voice in the Minnesota House of Representatives and I am humbled by your faith and trust.
As you may have heard, I was appointed to chair the Minnesota House Transportation Finance Committee, which I welcomed considering that our district is a rural hub of hauling goods and moving travelers.
We have the Mississippi River and the shipping industry. We have an Amtrak station as well as freight being hauled on rail lines and on U.S. and state highways. We have a regional airport. And we have the regional road and bridge concerns. When it comes to modes of transportation, we are truly impacted by all of them in Goodhue and Wabasha counties, which is why I’m pleased to help oversee this critical area of government.
Throughout my time in the Minnesota House, I’ve heard time and time again that our transportation infrastructure – particularly in outstate Minnesota – is crumbling. Going forward, we need to increase the investment in roads and bridges, and we need to do it by using some common sense and by making transportation more of a legislative funding priority.
I also understand that Minnesota can’t rely on federal allocations alone to improve our highways. One of the keys to maintaining and sustaining our transportation infrastructure is to have workable long range plans, and I look forward to meeting with Minnesota’s transportation commissioner and other MnDOT officials in the coming weeks to review and learn more about their future vision.
Besides transportation my other committee assignments include: Ethics, Health and Human Services Reform, Rules and Legislative Administration, and Ways and Means.
As always, if you have legislative questions – regardless of the topic – I urge you to contact me. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-8635, by email at rep.tim.kelly@house.mn, or by U.S. Mail at 559 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155.
Thanks again for giving me the privilege of serving your interests in the Minnesota House, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.