TO THE EDITOR:

The Transportation bill I voted against in May was anything but a ìgood dealî as Rick Olseen implied in his previous letter.

There were many reasons to vote no, but the biggest ñ the bill was unequivocally, undeniably, unconstitutional. In direct violation of the Minnesota Constitution, the bill transferred money from the dedicated Highway Fund for roads, to the State General Fund for spending. You just arenít allowed to do that. The Pioneer Press referred to the bill as ìflawed legislationî because of this and other ìdrafting errors.î

The bill had several significant flaws:
1) The bill was unconstitutional. Everyone who actually read the bill agrees on that.

2) The bill increased the state gas tax 50 percent in one year ñ not phased in as the amendment author Rep. Erhardt claimed, and Rick Olseen parroted (another ìdrafting errorî, but you had to actually read and understand the bill to see this error). The bill also significantly increased license tab fees while also implementing a new tax on car ownership.

3) The bill significantly changed the County Highway funding formula and shortchanged our local roads by shifted more funding to the Twin Cities metro area.

4) The bill bumped up mass transit by $2.5 billion, but to do so used existing sales tax revenue and left a looming $2.8 billion dollar deficit in future budgets.
Under this bill, a family with three vehicles would have paid increased taxes of more than $500 over the next two years alone. If Rick Olseen thinks causing families to pay $500 for an unconstitutional bill which shortchanges our local roads, and funds transit by creating a $2.8 Billion dollar hole in the future budget is a good deal; youíve got to wonder what he would consider a bad deal!

Sean Nienow
State Senator, Dist. 17

Top of Page

©ECM Post Review

6448 Main Street
North Branch, MN 55056
Telephone: 651-674-7025
Fax: 651-674-7026
E-mail: editor.postreview@ecm-inc.com