St. Paul – “On Tuesday, December 7, the Office of Management and Budget announced the largest projected surplus in the state’s history of $7.7 billion. Minnesota’s economy is strong, which allows us to take a look at investments that have been put off for far too long. Investments in Minnesota’s roads, bridges and wastewater treatment have taken a back seat to other state investments, but now is the time for infrastructure action.
The American Society of Civil Engineers most recent infrastructure report card gave Minnesota’s roads a D+ and Minnesota bridges received a C. The longer we wait to fully fund our state’s infrastructure projects the greater the need becomes and the larger the investment required just to maintain what we currently have.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act signed into law recently by President Biden will ensure that this historic federal investment will go towards shoring up our country’s crumbling infrastructure. Given the size of the state surplus that was announced on Tuesday, we have a huge but fleeting opportunity available to fully fund construction projects around the entire state that have been put off or patched up. Let’s quit kicking the can down the road and together let’s decide to finally make the commitment to fully fund Minnesota’s infrastructure improvements. An investment into our state’s infrastructure is both an investment in its citizens and in its business community.
The preservation of and investment in our state’s infrastructure should not be a partisan issue. The Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council calls upon the Governor and the legislature to make the right decision, which is to invest heavily into our state’s critically needed infrastructure projects that create good paying, prevailing wage jobs for working Minnesotans.
The Governor and the legislature must take advantage of this unique opportunity to utilize the surplus to fund the additional investments in Minnesota’s infrastructure, as the opportunity is great, but the need is greater.”