Johnson offers measure to limit population size for certain MSAs

A bipartisan bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) on June 17 would appropriately limit the size of the population required for metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).

Rep. Johnson joined original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ) to introduce the Metropolitan Statistical Area Preservation Act, H.R. 3999, which is in response to a January notice issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) seeking public comment on a recommendation to increase the MSA qualification from 50,000 to 100,000 people.

If implemented, the OMB rule change would impact federal programs in areas like Rapid City, S.D., according to Rep. Johnson’s office, which said that the South Dakota congressional delegation in March urged the OMB to reject the recommendation.

“Altering the standard MSA classification would impact more than 140 cities across the country, including Rapid City,” Rep. Johnson said last week. “The federal programs and funding MSAs receive are vital to communities’ growth and development — this policy will do more harm than good across the larger cities in rural America.”

Rep. O’Halleran added that too many towns in rural portions of his home state still have not recovered from the Great Recession and when hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, more small businesses were shut down, reducing local tax revenues. He said H.R. 3999 “ensures hardworking Arizonans in rural areas throughout our state are not unfairly disadvantaged as we recover from this global health crisis.”

U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) on June 15 introduced companion legislation, S. 2057, in the U.S. Senate.