As New Legislative Session Begins, So Do Bipartisan Attacks on Transit Funding

Move Minnesota and our supporters have spent decades successfully securing and fiercely protecting hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for transit, bicycling, walking, and rolling. Our historic funding and policy victories over the past two years are essential for improving and expanding public transit, cutting climate pollution, and improving daily life in Minnesota. Because of our big wins, we’re already seeing significant improvements in service–and opposition from lawmakers who don’t think we deserve public transit that works for everyone. 

As Minnesota’s 2025 legislative session gets underway, state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are actively attempting to claw back these wins with unacceptable anti-transit proposals that would slash transit funding, block new transit projects, and dilute the metro-area transit sales tax we fought so hard for. It’s frustrating to watch. But as long-time advocates who have seen this playbook before, we are ready for defense. 

Anti-Transit Actions So Far

A bill from Rep. Patti Anderson (R-33A) would stop the Northern Lights Express by prohibiting all local and federal spending on this new passenger rail line connecting Duluth and the Twin Cities. Legislation from Rep. Kristin Robbins (R-37A) would bring all planning for the North Metro’s future Blue Line Extension to a halt, adding artificial delay and unnecessary expense to a light rail project that has already been in the works for over a decade. Another bill from Sen. Jeff Howe (R-13) would end all Northstar commuter rail service. None of these bills are coming from lawmakers who represent communities along these lines.

In addition, a bill introduced by Sen. Steve Drazkowski (R-20) would reallocate funding from the metro region’s sales tax, effectively reducing the amount dedicated to public transit and opening up these dollars to be spent on roads and highways instead. 

Then there’s Governor Tim Walz’s budget proposal, which would cut tens of millions of dollars in funding for Metro Transit. This proposal from Walz (D-MN) would fully eliminate all state funding for light rail operations, which are federally required, forcing Metro Transit to dip into the metro-area transit sales tax funding designed to finally improve and expand Twin Cities transit service after more than a decade of underinvestment. The rollback comes just two years after we secured this dedicated transit funding in the nationally lauded 2023 transportation bill Walz signed into law. Move Minnesota, Sierra Club, and fourteen other organizations recently spoke out against the Governor’s proposal in a joint public statement and letter to state legislators. As we emphasized, Walz’s funding cut will undermine Metro Transit’s ability to improve and expand local bus service and bus rapid transit routes across the metro as intended, hindering progress toward equity and climate resilience along the way. 

What We Can Do

While these are some of the first threats we’re facing at the State Capitol this year—they won’t be the last. So as the legislative session continues, Move Minnesota and Move Minnesota Action are ready to defend against ongoing efforts to limit or reduce investments in public transit and to chip away at Minnesota’s climate progress. Our teams are meeting with elected officials, speaking out in testimony and in the press, and mobilizing advocates to take action. We’ll need your help in the coming weeks and months to protect the critical transit and climate gains we’ve already made for Minnesota families–and to expand on this progress together. 

We are witnessing a pattern of attacks against public transportation, it’s not new. I have to ask: who are these proposals for? Because it is not for everyday Minnesotans trying to make ends meet.

Nas Nourkadi
Policy and Community Specialist, Move Minnesota and Move Minnesota Action

Minnesota’s Responsibility: Lead Locally

In a normal year, cutting transit funding in Minnesota would be a bad idea. In 2025, rapidly evolving threats to federal funding are raising the stakes and making action at the state and local level more important than ever. While the Biden administration oversaw historic investments in transit and climate solutions, the Trump administration has expressed a strong preference for highway spending that will only continue to increase pollution. And in the chaos of Trump’s first thirty days, the new administration has already frozen all transportation infrastructure funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), sought to block transportation funding to states and cities like ours who aren’t actively helping with federal immigration enforcement, and attempted to redirect transportation funds to Republican-led states according to their marriage and birth rates. The impacts on public transit and clean transportation in Minnesota and across the country could be immense. 

Between this administration’s recent executive orders and new memos introduced by US Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the state of Minnesota is at risk of losing at least $1.4 billion in funding that was already promised. With federal funding no longer a guarantee, now is not the time to cut state investments in public transit. Now is the time for advocates and elected allies to come together to protect Minnesota’s leadership on transit and climate here at home.

I use transit every day as it is the most affordable and convenient way to get to work. It helps keep me connected to my community and means that I don’t have to maintain an expensive car! Right now is exactly the time we should be increasing our investments in reliable public transit, not divesting.

Daniel J.
Minneapolis, MN

Unfortunately, public transit is one of many valuable things being attacked at the legislature right now as lawmakers fight over how to approach the state budget. Investing in good bus service, kids’ school lunches, and clean energy brings value to our communities across the state and addresses the real challenges that Minnesota families grapple with every day. While some politicians would prefer to roll back essential services and villainize commonsense climate solutions so they can cut taxes for the wealthiest few, it’s clear more revenue is needed to create a Minnesota where everyone can thrive. We’re working on that with our We Make Minnesota coalition partners. In the meantime, cutting public transit and shortchanging our communities and our futures is a hard no.