Action Alert: Contact your legislators before they pass a poor transportation bill this week

You can take action on this alert by reading the information below and following the directions at the bottom.

Final transportation bills in the House and Senate

Riders rise up against proposed transit cuts

In the last two weeks, hundreds of transit riders and supporters packed eight Metropolitan Council hearing rooms to testify against the Met Council's proposed service cuts and fare increases. Many people told gut-wrenching stories and pleaded with officials not to cut off their key link to the outside world. However, unless the legislature increases transit funding the Met Council cannot restore service—they can only cut a different route. TLC staff and leaders attended all of the hearings to urge riders to contact the Governor and legislature because they are the only ones who can increase funding for transit. We have also been coordinating actions and messages with a wide range of community, faith and service organizations whose members will be directly harmed by these cuts.

Transit gains momentum in the Senate

The good news is that last Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee passed our Transportation Choices 2020 bill on a nearly unanimous voice vote. This is another victory for transit because it keeps the regional sales tax alive as a relatively stable and secure new funding source, and continues to make the case for full funding for transit. The Finance Committee also passed the Senate Omnibus Transportation bill on the same day. The bill now contains the full amount of stop-gap funding; however, to increase bi-partisan support, the bill had been changed to a smaller package with less transit funding and no regional sales tax. On Thursday, some of the transit funding was restored, although it still meets less than one-third of the full need and comes from the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax, which is an insecure and unstable funding source. Both the Omnibus Transportation bill and TC2020 will probably move next to the Tax Committee where our legislative allies will work to further amend parts of TC2020 onto the Omnibus bill before it goes to the full Senate for a vote. Now is the time to tell legislators to increase the level of secure funding for transit and keep stop-gap funding in the final bill.

Current House bill leaves transit behind

Last Thursday the House Transportation Finance Committee passed a small Omnibus Transportation bill on a near-party line vote. The bill contains only $11 million in stop-gap funding for 2006-2007 and has even less overall funding for transit than the Governor's abysmal plan. The bill is moving through the remaining committees in the next few days and then moves to the floor where our allies will attempt to improve the transit component including full stop-gap funding. We need your help to tell House members how important it is to increase the stop-gap funding and improve the bill for transit.

The most effective action you can take is to place a phone call to your legislators. You can also send a message through our e-mail/fax alert system - but a personal phone call will likely get the most attention.

TO CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS:

Call 651-296-2146. Talk with the operator and you will then be connected to your legislator. Identify yourself as a constituent and use the message below as a guide.

When you have done your part and contacted your legislators - please take a moment to forward this alert to friends using the TELL-A-FRIEND link. The more people who talk to their legislators the more effective we will be.

For more information on this initiative go to the Transit for Livable Communities website by clicking on the MORE button below:

It is crucial elected officials hear from transit supporters like you now. Please edit the message below to send a message to the Governor and your legislators.

Your message will be sent to each of the following targets:

Governor
Your State Representative
Your State Senator

A sample message appears below, which you may edit before sending.

This Action Alert Campaign is Closed.