In a press release announcing 2019 road construction projects, Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher said “without additional revenue … our roads and bridges will continue to deteriorate and our overall system and economy will suffer.” In response, Senator Scott Newman (R-Hutchinson), chair of the Senate Transportation Finance and Policy Committee, issued the following statement:

“I agree with Commissioner Anderson Kelliher that our transportation needs are great. I do not, however, agree that those needs can be met by taking money out of the transportation fund, where it will be placed in the General Fund to be spent on programs other than transportation, which is part of Governor Walz’s transportation budget proposal. The General Fund should not be subsidizing the General Fund; it should be contributing to the transportation fund.”

Senator Scott Newman, of Hutchinson, is in his third term representing District 18, which includes communities in McLeod, Meeker, Sibley, and Wright counties. Senator Newman serves as chairman of the Senate Transportation Finance and Policy Committee.