Take Action: Defend Transit & Climate Progress as Transportation Bill Heads to Special Session Vote

Throughout the regular session, we have worked hard to defend our historic public transit funding and climate policy wins from 2023. As we head into a special session, we need to pass a transportation bill that preserves this transit and climate progress for Minnesota families and communities as much as possible before it gets worse. The transportation omnibus bill will be up for a vote on Monday on the Minnesota House and Senate floors where all legislators will vote on it. Send a message to lawmakers to protect transit investments and climate progress from further attacks.

In a year with a divided House and Governor’s office that have repeatedly backed transit cuts, there are essential bright spots in the proposed transportation bill that conference committee or workgroup members agreed on. If it passes, this bill will:

• Keep the Driving Down Emissions law on schedule. This is critical for ensuring state transportation projects support Minnesota’s greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled reduction goals in ways that slash highway pollution, expand sustainable transit choices, and protect our health and our climate. 
• Provide free fares for Metro Mobility-certified customers. This would be a permanent extension of the 2023-24 pilot program where riders with disability or health conditions could ride any regular bus or light rail for free.
• Minimize cuts to transit funding. In comparison to the Governor’s recommended transit cuts of $130M over the next 4 years and the bad transportation bill that the House passed earlier this spring with transit cuts of $104M over the next 4 years, the omnibus bill that will go on chamber floors on Monday only has $86.3M in transit cuts over the next 4 years. While not the full protection we’ve fought for, this ensures that, in the short term, existing resources can continue to be used to improve and expand the high-quality service riders have been waiting on for so long.

Thanks to outreach from supporters like you, we were able to lessen cuts to transit, biking, walking, and rolling, and prevent climate policy rollbacks. Ahead of the floor votes, we need your help again. In a year of defense, we need to tell legislators to vote yes on the transportation bill, protect investments in transit from further cuts, and prevent implementation of our Driving Down Emissions from being delayed.

Take action now to minimize cuts to transit funding and implement our Driving Down Emissions law on schedule.