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2012 Endorsements!

Wednesday, October 17th, 2012

I am proud to be endorsed by the following organizations in my upcoming election for the Minnesota State Senate.  It is truly a great cross section of the many groups and supporters  in areas such as equality, education, working class Minnesotans, public services, safety, environment and natural resources, and health care.  I am anxious to work for all of my constituents as we take back the legislature and provide a voice for the people of this great State.

Sierra Club
Minnesota Farm Bureau
Minnesota Farmers Union PAC
Education Minnesota
MN Nurses Association
Clean Water Action
AFSCME Council 65
SEIU
MAPE
MPPOA – MN Police & Peace Officers  Association
MedPac
Planned Parenthood
NARAL
DFL
DFL Veterans Caucus
MN AFLCIO
IBEW of MN
United Transportation Union
Care Providers of MN
Outfront Minnesota
MN Professional Firefighters
Project 515
Small Business Minnesota PAC
UNITE!
Take Action MN

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Posted in Campaigns, Economy, Education, Environment, Health Care, Kevin Dahle MN Senate District 20, Transportation, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Special Session passes Flood Relief Bill

Monday, October 18th, 2010

On September 22, 2010, heavy rain across a wide swath of Southern Minnesota caused widespread flooding and property damage across 32 counties.  Federal disaster assistance is expected to cover 75% of the losses, dependent on the damage estimates completed by officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who were on site shortly after the disaster.

Residents and business leaders in the region have been quick to call for state assistance in getting this part of Minnesota on its feet again.  Most critical among the needs are road and bridge repair, school funding assistance to get displaced students back into class, and help for homeowners in need of shelter with winter fast approaching.

Also included in the legislation is language and funding to assist the North Central Minnesota community of Wadena, after a June 17, 2010 tornado caused extensive damage to a number of public facilities there, including the community center, school, and school district offices.

Officials from the House, Senate, Governor’s Office, and various state agencies have met over the course of the past week to craft a bill which provides some state assistance to help homeowners, business owners, and farmers recover, and assist communities and counties in repairing damaged infrastructure.

The bill includes $80.2 million in flood/tornado relief, and is targeted at specific agencies and areas, including public safety, transportation, natural resources, agriculture, employment and economic development, housing finance, education, and human services.  The money comes from the General Fund and some general obligation bonding dollars and trunk highway bonds.

Overall, the flood-relief sections of the bill contain $5 million from the Trunk Highway Fund, $32.5 million from the General Fund, $26 million from bond proceeds, and $10 million from the State Transportation Fund.  The $6.6 million in tornado relief comes in the form of $5.89 million from the General Fund and $750,000 from bond proceeds.

The Governor is expected to sign the bill later today.

Posted in Economy, Environment, Rice County, Transportation | No Comments »

Roads, Rail, and the River

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

This past Thursday, after a couple of hours greeting State Fair visitors from the Minnesota Senate booth, I headed south to Savage to step aboard a barge for a trip down the Minnesota and Mississippi River towards St. Paul.  The trip was sponsored by the Highway 169 Corridor Coalition as over 100 members made the 3 hour trip. We often think of the Hwy 169 corridor as roads and rail, but we cannot overlook the importance of the river in making this area a truly inter modal transportation network.

The 3 R’s (road, river, and rail) along Hwy 169 are economically vital for funneling freight into the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metro Region from the Mankato area and southern Minnesota. This area produces almost half of Minnesota’s corn, soybeans and ethanol, which makes Minnesota third in the nation for production among all states. Other major commodities moving along this corridor include aggregates, clay and sand, hogs, manufactured goods and food products.  The corridor connects major producers of ethanol, biodiesel and their byproducts to markets and refiners along ‘ethanol alley,’ the southwest freight corridor formed by Highway 60 and the Union Pacific Railroad.

The Ports of Savage are important for grain exports via the Minnesota and Mississippi River systems, guaranteeing low-cost, competitive transportation to regional and world markets for Minnesota farmers. The corridor is expected to play a future role in expanding access from western Minnesota agricultural producers to the Ports of Savage via routes capable of bypassing Metro congestion.  This is good news for the communities in my district along the corridor as we work to put together a long range plan of maximizing economic development for the area.

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Posted in Economy, Le Sueur County, Scott County, Transportation | No Comments »

Revisiting the Dan Patch

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

This afternoon, I was fortunate to meet with several regional participants in a discussion regarding the Dan Patch Railroad corridor with the main question “where do we go from here?”  Representative David Bly and Representative Alice Hausmann led the discussion, held at St. Olaf College.  Over the last 3 years I have passed bills out of the Minnesota Senate which in effect would have removed the gag order placed in statute several years ago not allowing any appropriation of money to a Dan Patch study or planning. Opposition in the House killed the bill.

There are several challenges, but a well planned local approach from the ground up would offer the best chance to achieving alternative transit options to the Twin Cities.  Two big challenges involve governance and funding. With the Met Council representing the 7 county metro area and MnDOT taking on much of the transportation planning for outstate Minnesota, the challenge lies in how to find common ground that ultimately leads to a workable statewide rail plan.  The current statewide rail plan relies on existing rail and infrastructure, important given the difficulty in gaining additional right of way. That’s why the Dan Patch should be a part of the picture.

There are at least 17 separate funding sources in the Cedar Transit corridor.  What funding sources would be available for the Dan Patch, should the statute be changed.  Should we consider other routes?  What is feasible?  How does rail tie in with existing transportation hubs?  Can existing bus service be expanded? What is the best mode of transportation for a given corridor?  Can we get buy-in from cities and counties along the way?  Groups like SCALE (Scott County Assoc. for Leadership and Efficiency) has already included the Dan Patch Line as part of their legislative priorities.

There will be other meetings planned, perhaps as early as August, to discuss the Dan Patch corridor and regional transportation options.  We are encouraged by the renewed interest.

Posted in Scott County, Transportation | No Comments »

US Highway 169 Corridor Coalition

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

This past Thursday I attended a meeting of the Highway 169 Corridor Coalition held in Belle Plaine. The mission of the group, which started a couple of years ago, is to bring attention to the needs of the corridor from Mankato in Blue Earth County to Bloomington and Edina in Hennepin County. In the spring of 2009, the U.S. Highway 169 Corridor Coalition was officially established to advocate for the corridor.
US-169 is a robust, multi-modal transportation corridor that is important to the state and the communities along the corridor. Challenges to its ongoing success include relieving congestion, especially near I-494, identifying US-169 as an important regional transit corridor, enhancements to important connections between rail, road, and transit within the corridor, safety, economic development along the route, and connecting the metro area to important SE Minnesota markets and businesses.
The coalition includes members from nearly all of the communities along the corridor and meetings include mayors, city council members, county engineers, county commissioners and administrators, Region 9 Development Commission representatives, and others with a vested interest in the corridor. On this particular evening, Senator Claire Robling, Representative Mike Beard, and I took questions about how we can cooperate in finding ways to move Hwy 169 projects and priorities forward. As legislators, we can assist with efforts to secure funding through federal dollars, the state general fund and bonding, county and city funding, and cooperative efforts between private and public entities at all levels.
There is great interest in the communities along the corridor to see projects completed. These projects include interchanges, bypasses, and reconfiguring of access and frontage roads. Cities like LeSueur see new upgrades such as the LeSueur Hill interchange as a way to promote economic development, increase employment, promote safety, connect the community, stabilize access to other highways, and support increased mobility along the corridor. Currently, as part of its efforts to ensure the continuing viability of US-169, the U.S. Highway 169 Corridor Coalition is building on extensive studies and plans that have already been completed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
To learn more about the coalition: http://www.us169corridorcoalition.com

Posted in Event, Le Sueur County, Scott County, Sibley County, Transportation | No Comments »


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