From TwinCites.com Pioneer Press:

 

Here's a remarkable situation: Part of Minnesota is poised to create 60,000 new private-sector jobs, but lacks the transportation to let people get to those jobs. The communities in the area have developed a plan that will be 90 percent funded by money that cannot be spent on roads, and half of which would not come to Minnesota at all if we don't spend it on this need.

 

We are talking of course about Southwest Light Rail Transit, a solution to a problem any state or region would love to have: lots of new jobs are coming.

 

The solution is practical, and clearly nonpartisan. It has been endorsed by all the chambers of commerce and all the city councils on the line, in communities of all political stripes. On the flip side, the alternatives are clearly bad. If we don't add this transportation option, one or both of two things will happen:

1. Many jobs will go elsewhere in the country.

2. Some of those jobs will come anyway, adding to our already bad traffic congestion. At that point, we might try to add more roads, but doing so will take highway money away from places in Greater Minnesota that really can only be served with roads.

 

Everyone agrees we need more transportation capacity to serve job growth in southwest metro. Everyone agrees that transportation money is tight and should go first to fix the system we have. Here is an opportunity to grow available transportation options in Minnesota, using money that can only go for new transportation. To unlock

$1.125 billion in federal and county transit funds, the state needs to invest only 10 percent of that: $125 million. Of that, $25 million is needed this year to keep the project on track.

 

Legislators in both parties have said they are looking for points of agreement in a session that is too often short on them.

 

Legislators in both parties have also said they are looking for the maximum leverage from the state's investments, and there is nothing else in either the House or Senate bonding bill that gives the 9-to-1 return on state money that SW LRT would give.

 

In sum, a state investment in SW LRT does exactly what bonding projects are supposed to do: contribute to the wealth and welfare of the whole state, leverage other dollars and do so in a way supported by citizens and businesses of all political stripes.

 

As the House and Senate work to reconcile their bonding proposals, we urge them to add their bi-partisan support to ours and fund this project so we can reduce congestion and continue to add jobs.

 

Todd Klingel is president of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. Matt Kramer is president of the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce. Arrie Larsen Manti is president of the Edina Chamber of Commerce. Bruce Nustad is president of the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce. Pat MulQueeny is president of the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce. 

 

Read the full TwinCities.com Pioneer Press opinion piece here.  

 

Learn more about the merits of Southwest Light Rail at Sun Newspapers here. 

 

From Politics in Minnesota:  

 

Legislation that would prohibit school districts from making layoff decisions based solely on seniority cleared the House on a 70-61 vote on Thursday evening.

 

The Senate must still pass the so-called "last in, first out" proposal after it was negotiated during a conference committee. Gov. Mark Dayton has made it clear that he intends to veto the measure.

 

Rep. Branden Petersen, R-Andover, the lead sponsor of the bill, acknowledged that it's likely to face a veto, but insisted that it will eventually become law. "This change is coming to Minnesota and it's coming to every state across the country," Petersen said.  "The education reform movement is coming and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

 

Rep. Tom Anzelc, DFL-Balsam Township, spoke against the measure during the floor debate. "Continue the path you're on, starving public education, and the problem that you are inappropriately trying to correct here today will continue," Anzelc said. "It is a bad bill; it's worthy of a veto."

 

Only three legislators - GOP Reps. Greg Davids, of Preston, and Dean Urdahl, of Grove City, and DFL Rep. Kate Knuth, of New Brighton - bucked their caucuses on the issue.

 

Read the full Politics in Minnesota article here. 

 

From MPR News:

With the legislative session heading into what is expected to be its final weekend, there's still no agreement on major issues including a Vikings stadium, a public works bonding bill or a tax bill.

 

But Republicans in the House did manage to move forward with a bill to change tenure rules for teachers in public schools.

 

Still, Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders met privately on and off throughout the day Thursday and reported that they're still confident they can bridge their differences on the bills before them.

 

The Vikings stadium bill took a back seat to other issues on Thursday - a rare moment in the last week. The debate will shift back to the stadium Friday when the Senate Tax Committee holds a hearing on the bill.

 

Republican Rep. John Kriesel of Cottage Grove says the House could vote on the measure as early as Friday as well. Kriesel, a stadium backer, said he wants to see the vote happen quickly.

"We know the deadline at this point and we can prepare for it. If we don't move forward and then say well, we didn't have enough time, that's on us," he said.

 

Kriesel is referring to a self-imposed deadline to finish the session on Monday. GOP House Speaker Kurt Zellers says he's still committed to meeting that deadline but declined to say when the Vikings stadium vote will happen.

 

He made his comments after he met privately with Dayton and the other legislative leaders. They didn't discuss the stadium but focused more on a public works bonding bill and a tax bill. Republican Senate  

Majority Leader Dave Senjem said Republicans thought they had an agreement Wednesday night with Dayton on a $498 million bonding bill. But he said DFL leaders in the House and Senate thought the bill was too small.

 

"There was seemingly no interest in kind of working within the framework to the number we agreed to with the governor," Senjem said. "We sat there for an hour talking about it and we made absolutely no progress so we'll continue to work on it, but it seems to me that it's a little more problematic right now."

 

The two sides are still talking. Republicans need DFL support if they want a bonding bill because it requires a three-fifths super majority to pass. Paul Thissen is the DFL House Minority Leader.

 

Read the full MPR News article here.

(TwinWest supports a $24 million bonding request for Southwest Lightrail, passage of LIFO Education Reform, and tax relief for business property owners.)

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