Transportation This Week at the Capitol

In the House

On Monday, April 13th, Chair Brad Tabke (DFL, 54A) held the gavel in the House Transportation Committee for the last time before deadlines this session.

The House heard the “Transit for a Vibrant Metro” Act, led by Rep. Jones (DFL, 61A), and developed in close coordination with Our Streets, Move Minnesota, and the Sierra Club North Star chapter. HF 4449 establishes a new framework for coordinating transit planning, street reconstruction projects, and land use in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. It directs the Metropolitan Council to develop a transit system investment framework that maps out transit routes and timelines for expansion. This framework is geared towards giving access to high-frequency transit to more parts of the region, serving at least one million people within a half mile of their home by 2040.

Once this framework and the map of potential planned investments are in place, road projects would need to be consistent with it and those that aren’t could see funding reallocated to better projects. The bill also introduces specific performance measures around service density and efficiency that must be incorporated into the region’s transportation policy plan—meaning we are tracking outcomes and investing accordingly.

The bill creates alignment between transit investment, land use, and transit-oriented development. If the bill became law, local governments would generally be barred from building transit projects outside the top two transit market areas unless the surrounding areas zoning conforms to transit-oriented development principles—mixed-use, pedestrian- and transit-friendly design. It also explicitly authorizes the Metropolitan Council and local governments to acquire property near transit corridors for transit-oriented development, clarifying that the Council’s existing eminent domain authority extends to that purpose. This could build public ownership of land around transit, building stability for those at risk for displacement and fostering additional public control and benefit from transit-oriented development.

The bill was laid over and will not advance this year. However, it was a step in the right direction to ensure there is a comprehensive vision for our regional transit system and accountability for metro sales tax dollars.

Rep. Sencer-Mura (DFL, 63A) presented HF 4180, a bill that would create new rules around the air transportation of detained individuals through Minnesota. The bill requires the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to develop a voluntary passenger form for detained people on aircraft, mandates that pilots or those in charge of detention maintain these forms, and directs airport service providers (known as fixed base operators) to confirm the forms are present and document flights carrying detained individuals. It also prohibits refueling an aircraft while anyone on board is restrained, and, starting October 1, 2026, bars the state, local governments, and the Metropolitan Airports Commission from entering new contracts with airport service providers who serve airlines transporting detained individuals without a judicial warrant, court order, or authorization from the governor. This bill was also laid over.

Several smaller bills, governing duplicate licenses, bonding for a specific interchange project in the south metro, and specialty license plates were also heard.

On Wednesday, April 15th, Chair John Koznick (GOP, 57A) held the gavel in the House Transportation Committee. The committee heard a presentation from the Metropolitan Council on the metro sales tax and regional transit funding, and governance.

Those looking for a history lesson in the development and funding of our regional transit system, this presentation outlines how our transit system developed and was funded over time. One clear takeaway is the role the legislature had in deciding how and where regional transit is developed, with those priorities changing over time and having vastly different impacts on transit development.

This year’s conversation of the opt-out providers, which serve specific suburban communities with transit service, exemplifies this well. These services were originally created by the legislature, and now a bipartisan group of lawmakers has taken the first step towards creating a consolidated regional transit system under Metro Transit, showing how these legislative decisions shape service delivery across the region, which impacts the daily lives of transit riders.

At the end of this hearing, the House Transportation Committee adjourned without creating an omnibus bill, and will unlikely reconvene this session. A conference committee may be convened at the end of the session, but it is unclear at this time if that will happen and it is unlikely to result in a bill with any finance or policy provisions.

In the Senate

The week of April 13th

On Monday, April 13th, the Senate Transportation Committee took up fiscal bills in a process that resembled an omnibus bill process. 

Throughout the session, it has been unclear whether or not committees would end the session with these bills that bundle budget and policy provisions together and move as a large package. Much of this doubt has come from the House, where committees have been deadlocked and it is increasingly clear that a compromised omnibus bill will not emerge in that chamber. 

Despite that, the Senate is compiling a bill containing several provisions from the governor’s supplemental budget that were sent to the Senate for consideration. However, transit cuts were not included in the bill, showing where Chair Dibble and Senate DFL members stand to protect transit funding as the governor continues his efforts to cut it. 

Building on that momentum, Senator McEwen introduced bill SF 2957 to increase the appropriation to the Greater Minnesota Transit Account to $7.5 million, supporting the many agencies that provide transit access across the state. More work needs to be done connecting communities across the state with safe, frequent, and reliable multi-modal transportation options. 

On April 13th, Senator Dibble introduced SF 3988, the Transportation Omnibus Finance and Policy Bill for 2026. The bill was rolled out on Monday and “marked up” on Wednesday, April 15th, to include amendments from other members of the committee. 

Article 1 of the bill touches on appropriations, or money planned to be spent by the state on various transportation initiatives. The provisions are a mix of extensions of already allocated funds, reductions to some funding allocated in 2025, and new funding decisions. This included extending prior appropriations for projects like Eveleth’s Progress Parkway reconstruction ($6M) in St. Louis County, and truck parking safety program ($4.8M), reducing passenger rail funding slightly, and directing money to Capitol security, driver’s license updates (including a speech condition indicator and youth driver’s ed requirements), motorized bicycle safety, and a $300,000 grant to the I-494 Corridor Commission.

Important to note in this section is the appropriations to Capitol security, increasing from about $19 million a year to nearly $24 million in 2026 and $39 million in 2027. These increases are to cover expanded security screenings and other measures to keep state lawmakers, staff, and the public safe at the Capitol complex in the wake of the assassination of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and the attempted assassination of Senator John Hoffman. 

The policy article is wide-ranging, though it does not contain transformative transportation reforms due to the legislature’s split control between the DFL and the GOP. 

However, two provisions set helpful precedents for our continued work in 2027. 

The bill requires that Hennepin County coordinate the Lyndale Avenue reconstruction in south Minneapolis with the Metropolitan Council to accommodate a future BRT line. This smart move aligns with a near-term roadway reconstruction along Lyndale Ave. The requirement would not fully build out BRT stations, but it would take steps now to ensure future BRT buildout is minimally disruptive. 

Aligning road and transit projects would reduce costs and construction delays for residents, which in turn helps multi-modal projects be completed faster. 

We are continuing to advance this efficiency practice system-wide at MnDOT, through our Fix-it-Right bill and our efforts to clarify highway purposes to include transit and other modes along MnDOT-owned roads, and HF 4449, which creates a similar process at the county and local level. 

Second, a provision (sec. 2 of the policy provisions) to allow trunk highway dollars to be spent to support local governments in relocating utilities during road construction was included in the bill, which would allow MnDOT to reimburse local governments for the service life remaining in municipally owned utilities under Trunk Highways. 

Interestingly, the case for spending to relocate utilities is based on the same case law that supports a broader interpretation of highway purposes to include transit and active transportation as well. This broad interpretation supports our work to clarify the purposes of highways to include transit and active transportation projects along state highways.

This is a common-sense clarification that aligns our state’s funding practices with how Minnesotans actually use our trunk highways today, building safer streets for all, connecting communities with opportunities, and saving the state money by aligning projects to be delivered at the same time. Fundamentally, this clarification respects the original intent of the State Constitution to provide a transportation system for all Minnesotans, regardless of how people choose to travel.

We look forward to this bill setting the stage for further highway purposes conversation in 2027.

Other provisions included significantly tightening the regulatory framework around e-bikes, motorized bicycles, and micromobility devices—redefining each category, capping micromobility at 20 mph, requiring helmets for riders under 18, banning motorized bicycles from non-motorized paths, and creating a new state motorized bicycle safety coordinator.

The mandates that drivers under 21 complete formal driver’s education and create a financial assistance program pilot to support people who couldn’t pay for it, expand license suspension authority for vehicular homicide and operation cases, and revise bridge inspection schedules while requiring MnDOT to develop suicide-prevention railing standards. Other notable provisions include a resilient pavement program (extending pavement design life up to 50 years), a truck parking improvement program, several new specialty license plates, expanded public safety officer death benefits applied retroactively to 2020, and various technical updates to underground utility marking, school bus rules, and railroad crossing bell requirements.

The week of April 20th

On Monday, April 20th, Senate Transportation leaders and Our Streets led a Transportation Reform Hearing with other advocates.

On Wednesday, April 22nd, the Senate held its biannual “show and tell” day for bonding projects, where legislators and local officials from their districts shared more about the projects they are hoping to get included in the 2026 bonding bill, which allows the state to sell bonds to support specific infrastructure projects. 

The projects were a mixed bag, with several, including multi-modal and complete streets improvements in Richfield and Bloomington, a separated bike and pedestrian path in Prior Lake, and municipal utility work under West 7th Street in St. Paul, helping move multi-modal projects forward. 

Unfortunately, many of the proposed projects prioritize cars over people and continue to double down on highway expansions, interchanges, and other projects that don’t put maintenance and transportation choices first. 

It seems like a bonding bill will make it over the finish line this year, as legislators across the aisle want to bring capital projects home in an election year. We will continue to track this bill’s movement through the legislative process and will advocate for more multi-modal projects in bonding bills this year and in future years. 

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