Minnesota Political Battle Holding Up $105 Million in FAST Act Funding
A dispute between Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, and the state鈥檚 House Republican majority over who gets to dictate how funds are distributed, is hanging up $105 million in FAST Act dollars. This on the eve of Minnesota鈥檚 legislative elections in which the House could join the Senate in becoming controlled by the Democrats.
Dayton鈥檚 Department of Transportation wants to use the money for road and bridge work on Interstate 35 as well as several other freight routes in Minnesota such as U.S. 2, 14, 52, 59, 71 and 169 and Minnesota 11.
鈥淭he U.S. roadways 鈥 handle a lot of freight traffic, much of it interregionally,鈥 MnDOT spokesman Kevin Gutknecht听said. 鈥淸Minnesota] 11听is听an important route that runs across the northern edge of the state from International Falls to the North Dakota border.鈥
Minnesota Rep. Tim Kelly, the retiring chairman of the Transportation Committee, objected in a letter to Department of Management and Budget Commissioner Myron Frans on Oct. 19, saying that the Legislature has to sign off on all funding even when the dollars are federal.
鈥淭his is unprecedented,鈥 Kelly said in an exclusive interview with Transport Topics. 鈥淭he department still has to go through a budgeting process that鈥檚 approved by the Legislature. The request was to spend the dollars we have coming [in the FAST Act] and put them in our budget without our blessing, basically.
"The process is the process for a reason. The [2017 legislative] session will start in January. Every legislator will have the opportunity to vote on [the projects]. That鈥檚 $105 million of taxpayer money. It shouldn鈥檛 be controversial.鈥
Kelly added that since nonemergency road construction has ceased in Minnesota until May, 鈥淭he Department said it doesn鈥檛 need the money until 2017, anyway, because these projects are all for 2017.鈥
In his letter to Frans, Kelly wrote, 鈥淢nDOT leadership staff recently stated that these appropriations could be dealt with next session in conversations [with] at least two committee staff.鈥
In his Oct. 25 response to Kelly, Dayton wrote, 鈥淵ou have had ample opportunity to work with your colleagues 鈥 and send to my desk a significant transportation funding package that not only utilizes these federal dollars, but provides a long-term approach to fix our crumbling highway road and bridge infrastructure. 鈥 You are now compounding that failure with the misconceived notion that this 鈥 request is somehow precedent setting.听 鈥
"MnDOT was clearly within its prerogative to request the use of these funds. In fact, they have already designated projects that will now undoubtedly be delayed based on your objection. What you are really doing is 鈥 telling communities throughout Minnesota that their local roads, bridges and safety improvements can wait.鈥
As for what happens next, Gutknecht said, 鈥淩ep. Kelly has the option of withdrawing the objection by Nov. 8. Until then, we won鈥檛 know the status of those projects. Anything else at this time would be speculation.鈥澨
Kelly and his Senate counterpart, Scott Dibble, agreed on a $600 million transportation package before the 2016 session ended May 23, but they couldn鈥檛 bring their caucuses along and Dayton opted not to call a special session to try solve Minnesota鈥檚 16-year, $20 billion funding shortfall.