Looking for compromise on transportation funding

As the Senate chair of the Transportation Conference Committee, I recently received a letter from the governor where he clearly stated that he would support no tax increases to meet Minnesota’s transportation funding needs. He directed the conference committee, if they wished to make progress this session, to adopt his borrowing plan to fund transportation.

I responded that I, along with my colleagues in the Senate and House, are willing to work with him to craft a sensible and fair solution to our state’s transportation funding crisis. Minnesota has $1.7 billion in annual unmet transportation funding needs. It is critical that the state make a real, dedicated investment in our roads, bridges, and transit systems this year. By continuing to rely on borrowing to fund our transportation system, we will only put our state further behind and shift the costs of today’s projects onto our children and grandchildren.

I am committed to developing a transportation funding package that will begin to address our state’s growing transportation needs and encourage the governor’s participation in this process. I’m obviously disappointed that he has chosen a hard-line stance rather than engaging in this critical discussion. A lack of investment in our transportation infrastructure will have disastrous effects for our state n leading to increased congestion, increased danger on our roads, and the loss of economic opportunity for our businesses.

I continue to invite the governor to work with the Legislature on crafting a transportation funding package compromise. The time is now to move Minnesota forward.

Source : http://www.winonadailynews.com