The 2025 Senate committee assignments were released ahead of the January 14th start to session. Senator Robert Farnsworth (R- Hibbing) was added to the Transportation Committee, while retaining his previous assignments to the Higher Education and Education Finance Policy Committees.
“Every committee is important, but adding transportation to my committee assignments puts me in a great position to advocate for the needs of our district,” Farnsworth said. “We all know safe roads and bridges are a key responsibility of government. I am looking forward to working with our townships, cities, counties, and even federal agencies as partners to improve the roads we all use to get to work, school, and travel across the state. I am especially excited to keep working on securing funding to complete the Highway 169 corridor. This is a top priority across the district.”
Farnsworth already worked with the Transportation Committee to pass his bill to rename a portion of marked U.S. Highway 169 between Marble and Mountain Iron as “Senator David J. Tomassoni Memorial Cross Range Expressway.”
The legislature must pass a balanced two-year budget this year. According to the Department of Transportation, about three-quarters of transportation funding comes from taxes on gas, vehicle registrations, and vehicle sales. “Transportation spending has a very direct connection to the taxpayers,” Farnsworth said. “It’s my goal to make sure we are being excellent stewards of the transportation tax dollars and investing in projects that will improve not just the lives of Minnesotans but make things easier and safer for everyone on our roads.”
Having served on Education Finance Committee previously, Farnsworth built on his personal experience as a teacher to advocate for fewer mandates and more investment into special education needs. Unfortunately, Democrats passed more than 60 new mandates on schools and failed to fully fund special education. Despite massive funding increases, schools across the state are facing shortfalls due to the restrictions and limitations on the dollars they do have. “I’ll continue to empower and trust local school boards to decide how to best educate our kids. Every school and student is unique. One-size-fits-all funding decisions from St. Paul make it harder to keep kids on track,” Farnsworth said.
Serving on the Higher Education Committee allows Sen. Farnsworth to see the full education career from the legislative perspective. The committee will need to tackle the $211 million shortfall in state aid that could reduce support to students in need. In light of a small surplus and looming deficit, all state spending will need to be closely reviewed and tightly managed to avoid exacerbating problems for college students.