{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://jasonlewis.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=207", "Lewis hosts MPO Roundtable to discuss increasing Met Council accountability", "2018-08-29", "2018", "2018-08", "Republican", "House", "MN", "Jason Lewis", "L000587", "jasonlewis.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.- Congressman Jason Lewis (MN-02) issued the following statement after hosting an MPO Roundtable this morning, joined by various County Commissioners, State Representatives, and MPO stakeholders to discuss Metropolitan Planning Organization reform for the Twin Cities' Met Council.\r\nFor years, I have expressed concern over the priorities of our regional MPO, the Met Council, and the lack of accountability they have to those they represent. As this Roundtable showed, I am not alone in my concerns. The Met Council is the only MPO in the nation that doesn't have locally elected representation on its board while also wielding the power to independently tax. My amendment, which unanimously passed the House this past spring attached to the FAA Reauthorization, requires the Met Council to fall into federal compliance and put an elected official on the board. Moving forward, I urge our Senators to support this initiative as well.\r\nBackground: \r\nMAP-21 required that federally recognized MPOs that participate in transit improvement program planning, long-range capital plans, coordination of transit services, and that carry out other state activities, all of which rely on federal funding and grants, meet certain requirements. These requirements include a board makeup of locally elected officials, public transportation officials, and appropriate state officials.\r\nThe Metropolitan Council (Met Council) currently has a Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) that consists of local elected officials, but in August of 2015, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration ruled that the TAB lacked any voting authority and therefore the Met Council did not meet the threshold of MPO compliance.\r\nUnfortunately, the Obama administration used a separate clause in federal law to grandfather the Met Council into compliance. However, despite ruling in their favor, even Obama's DOT agreed change is preferred, stating we would encourage the Council to move toward the structure described in 23 U.S.C. 134(d)(2) in order to make the MPO more directly accountable to its public...\r\nOur amendment does not seek to change the operations or scope of the Met Council. It does not attempt to change the activities of the board. It simply requires that for a board to be in compliance they need to have locally elected official representation consistent with every other MPO in the country.\r\nRoundtable Attendees:\r\n- Scott Co. Commissioner Mike Beard\r\n- Former Mayor of Burnsville Dan McElroy\r\n- Carver Co. Commissioner Randy Maluchnik\r\n- Rep. Tony Albright, District 55B\r\n- Dakota County Commissioner Kathleen Gaylord\r\n- Sen. Eric Pratt, District 55\r\n- Anoka Co. Commissioner Mike Gamache\r\n- Shakopee City Councilman Matt Lehman\r\n- Former State Senator Kathy Saltzman\r\n- Lakeville City Administrator Justin Miller \r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://jasonlewis.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=207"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9954427368938923, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}