Metro Mobility Service Area
Not Reduced
by Joel Ulland
The Minnesota Legislature
concluded the 2006 legislative session with the passage of a bill
to protect the Metro Mobility Service area from being cut back. This
law will protect the status quo for
people with disabilities and requires that any cuts to the Metro Mobility
service area be approved by the legislature. The Metropolitan Council will no
longer be able to make administrative decisions to cut services. The law also
requires that Metro Mobility service be provided to cities as a whole, not limited
to selected neighborhoods.
The bill passed the Minnesota House of Representatives on a vote
of 132 to 0 on the final day of the session and the Minnesota Senate
64 to 0. The bills were chief authored by State Senator Steve Murphy
and State Representative Mary Liz Holberg and were signed by Governor
Tim Pawlenty on May 31.
The Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities advocated
for this bill in reaction to the 2005 Metropolitan Council proposal
to im-plement a 10 percent cut in the program’s funding.
As a result of the proposal, five communities would have had no Metro
Mobility service. Eleven additional suburbs would have lost more
than half of their current service area, and another 12 cities would
have lost a portion of their service. In all, 28 metro communities
would have seen significant reductions in service. Fortunately, the
council was able to avoid making these cuts to the Metro Mobility
service area last year.
Joel Ulland is the Public
Policy Director of the MS Society’s
MN Chapter.
