Minnesota Senate Republicans sent Governor Tim Walz a strong but expected message yesterday, the day before his State of the State address, voting down in committee the governor’s transportation funding plan that includes increases in the gas tax, tab fees and motor vehicle sales tax. MN-DOT Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher warned lawmakers without adequate permanent funding, money for roads and bridges will be taken from education and health care. “When the times get bad, people steal the money around here,” she says.
Rockville Republican Jeff Howe responds the transportation tax increases Governor Walz proposes are the most regressive. “The people in my district that are driving the 11-year-old vehicles, the 15-year-old vehicles — that’s what it hurts. It hurts those people the worst,” Howe says.