INVESTING IN MINNESOTA’S FUTURE
Minnesotans want strong state investment in our Great Outdoors. This desire has come through loud and clear in public opinion polls and in the voting booth, where citizens passed the landmark Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment that established dedicated funding to supplement traditional spending on the environment.
With budget battles and economic uncertainty dominating decision-making, our challenge is to make sure state leaders:
• direct Clean Water, Land and Legacy funds to the most vital projects — and don’t allow funds dedicated to the environment to be raided for other uses;
• funding decisions for Minnesota’s Great Outdoors must be fair and proportionate to the overall state budget. We must reverse the disproportionate cuts to environmental and conservation programs in recent years, and renew the state’s commitment to regaining the traditional one percent share of the total state general fund budget for our Great Outdoors;
• capital Investments for Minnesota’s Great Outdoors must be maintained at a level at least equal to the 10-year average of 22 percent of the total general obligation bonding proposed or authorized. In addition, we must invest in our transit system to expand our transportation options; and
• new revenue, fairly raised, must be part of the solution to balancing the state budget.
TRANSIT FOR A STRONGER ECONOMY
Expanded light rail, bus rapid transit and regular bus service, along with improved access for pedestrians and people using wheelchairs and bicycles, will create 30,000 jobs*, help keep our air clean, and make the daily commute for millions of Minnesotans faster, cheaper, and more fair.
Building out Minnesota’s transit system is a good investment for our state, expanding transportation options for families, seniors, students and people with disabilities; reducing traffic congestion; and helping attract employers and a broader, younger professional labor pool to our state.
* The Itasca project. November 30, 2012. Regional Transit System Return on Investment Assessment. p.7 PROBLEM Minnesota’s current transportation system offers few choices. Families today struggle with long commutes and rising gas prices. Only 25% of metro households have access to convenient transit.† Despite nearly 90 million rides on metro area public transit in 2012, the Twin Cities is falling behind peer cities in transit options, making this region less appealing to corporations and young professionals. Transit use and demand also are growing in Greater Minnesota, where fewer families have access to transit, and two counties have no transit service at all. Yet funding for public transit is a recurring battle at the legislature. Regional and statewide plans for transit investments lack secure funding. More people are incorporating bicycling and walking into their transportation patterns, but funding for these options is scarce. POSITION STATEMENT The Minnesota legislature should solve these problems and ensure a stronger Minnesota economy by providing funding to build out and operate a transit system including, bus, rail and safe connections by walking and bicycling and for people with disabilities. An additional $300 million in the Twin Cities metro and an additional $32 million in Greater Minnesota, per year, is required to build out our transportation system. New funding would yield: • three additional light rail lines, including Southwest, Bottineau and a Light Rail Transit line in the east metro; • four new highway bus rapid transit (BRT) lines; • twelve new arterial rapid bus lines on current routes; • more extensive and frequent local bus service; • in Greater Minnesota, 250 new bus routes across 64 operating systems, including evening and weekend service; and • funding for local governments to build proper facilities for pedestrians and people who use bicycles and wheelchairs. Bill authors: Representative Melissa Hortman, Contacts: Dave Van Hattum Sherry Munyon, Minnesota Public
Senator Melisa Franzen
Transit for Livable Communities
612-879-8743
davevh@tlcminnesota.org
Transit Association
612-723-4245
smunyon@capitolaccess.us