A difficult Minnesota Legislative Session ended with transit cuts. But through collaboration with legislative leaders, community, and partner organizations, we defended past progress and established the foundation for future policy wins.
Together, we made progress in all of our legislative priorities this year and will continue to advocate for forward-thinking, community-centered transportation reforms in 2026 and beyond.
This legislative session was politically tenuous. We faced a divided House, a gloomy state fiscal outlook, several special elections, and federal uncertainty due to the Trump administration’s policy shifts and funding cuts. Minnesota and the rest of the country also face a crisis of unsustainability with the way we invest in transportation. Highways harm our communities, our environment, and our economy.
Despite these difficult circumstances, Our Streets and our legislative partners laid the groundwork for transformative change in the coming years.
Our Streets worked closely with Senate Transportation leaders to present a vision forward where:
- We change the way major highway projects are planned to center Minnesotan communities and build partnerships with local governments
- Highway funding is flexible for all modes of transportation, not just cars and trucks
- The nation’s leading Climate Impacts of Highway Law is not only preserved, but expanded through new funding that makes the policy implementable
We’re proud that this vision was passed through the Senate Omnibus bill and laid a foundation for future policy wins.
In the house, highway lobby interests joined forces with Republicans and county engineers to fight the Climate Impacts of Highways law passed in the previous session. We played a critical role with House and Senate DFL leaders and the Sierra Club North Star Chapter, Move Minnesota, and the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota in defending the nation-leading law.
We also worked closely with House DFL leaders, who coalesced around defending transit, active transportation, making the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) more transparent, and rethinking the way we plan highways. We were able to defend against repealing major policies and introduce forward-thinking legislation for sessions to come.
Unfortunately, deep cuts were needed to balance the state budget, and transportation’s target needed to cut $115 million in spending. Due to constitutional restrictions on highway funds and the governor’s original budget recommendations that zeroed out state funding for transit, these cuts largely came from transit and active transportation programs.
Just hours before the special session was called to resolve the state budget, a coalition of republicans, Senate “Blue Dog” Democrats, and counties killed the signed transportation agreement that DFL leaders designed to ensure transit riders don’t bear budget cuts alone.
Representative and DFL Chair of the Transportation Committee Erin Koegel (DFL-39A) led efforts to defend and build on transportation progress in the House. Thank you to Representative Koegel and her staff for their collaboration in the 2025 session.
This was to be accomplished by shifting some funds in the metro sales tax from counties back to the Met Council to fund a full BRT buildout. Unfortunately, the deal was undercut and ultimately did not progress.
What else did the final transportation bill do?
The final transportation bill, which will soon be signed into law, contained several positive provisions, including:
- Protected the VMT law that addresses the climate impacts of Highways
- Protected some funding for the NLX train to Duluth project, as well as the Blue Line Light Rail Extension in Hennepin County
- Protected dedicated transit funding through the metro area sales tax
- Promoted long-term funding stability for active transportation by restoring cuts in the next biennium and setting an $8.3 million funding baseline in perpetuity, securing a stable future for statewide active transportation
- Improvements to the popular E-Bike rebate program, including preference for low-income or disabled Minnesotans, a sign-up period, and a lottery in place of “first come, first served.”
- Funding for suicide barriers on the Washington Avenue Bridge at the University of Minnesota
Unfortunately, due to the state budget outlook and Republican power sharing, several harmful provisions were approved as well, including
- An increase in spending on roads and bridges, both in the transportation bill and the bonding bill, will make all transportation cuts fall on transit and active transportation
- Major cuts to transit in the Twin Cities, amounting to $86.3 million between 2026 and 2029
- Major cuts to Greater Minnesota Transit, amounting to $22 million between 2026 and 2027, but returning to baseline in 2028 and 2029
- Numerous Highway project earmarks, including an interchange in Lakeville and several other projects. Earmarks are often used as a way to bypass merit-based methods of selecting projects and distributing funds
The Highway Justice Act Advanced
Our Streets worked with communities, advocates, and transportation leaders to grow the movement for increased community participation in highway planning, expanded environmental justice protections for highway-adjacent communities, and clarification of highway purposes to facilitate flexible spending on transit, biking, walking, and rolling infrastructures.
We successfully advanced the Highway Justice Act, led by Senator Fateh and Representative Sencer-Mura, which addresses these three pillars and grew from advocacy and community solidarity along urban freeways across Minnesota. The bill was heard in the Senate, with several components, including Highway purpose clarifications and bylaws for the Rethinking I-94, Olson Memorial Highway, and I-94/ 252 projects passing through the Senate in the Omnibus Transportation Bill.
Even though these bylaws did not pass due to Republican power sharing in the House, they sent a strong signal to MnDOT: it’s time to do better engaging communities and local governments on its largest metro area projects.
During the hearing, community members and local elected officials reinforced this point, speaking about the harms the Highway 252 expansion and Rethinking I-94 projects will have on their community, a powerful example motivating legislative action.
In collaboration with House DFL leadership, we also advanced efforts to make MnDOT more transparent, democratizing access to information on the agency’s fiscal and project-based activities, which were passed in the House Omnibus Transportation Bill.
Efforts to advance these provisions will continue in 2026.
A Foundation in Grassroots Organizing
A key part of our legislative success was organizing and engaging with community members across the Twin Cities.
We connected with community members and met them where they are at—literally—knocking on more than 3,500 doors in urban and suburban communities across the Twin Cities. The majority of residents agreed that it is time for a transportation system that works for everyone who bikes, walks, rolls, and takes public transportation, not just for those who drive.
Our Streets also hosted a Day at the Capitol in March, bringing community members to the Capitol and making spaces for residents to speak to elected officials about their transportation priorities. We also joined the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota at their annual day on the hill to connect with other transportation advocates.
Our Streets is proud of the progress we made together this session. We want to thank the community, legislative partners and staff, all who took action steps or attended an event, and those who spoke up for the need to create a just and sustainable transportation system that creates vibrant communities across Minnesota.
We will continue to fight for a transportation system that works for everyone in 2026 and beyond.
Policies in Practice
Check out the progress we’ve made in detail.