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Dear neighbors,
The second special session of the summer began this morning. My priorities for the session include passing legislation to address the COVID-19 pandemic, police accountability and criminal justice reforms, and a strong Jobs and Local Projects bill to invest in public infrastructure and create jobs. I am hopeful that we can come together to address these significant issues.
If you’d like to stay up-to-date during the special session, you can watch House floor sessions and committee hearings here. A full list of the bills that were introduced this afternoon can be found here. You can also follow my Facebook page, linked here, for updates.
Protecting Minnesota’s Environment and Natural Resources
During the regular session, we passed a bill to invest $61.4 million from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund in projects that protect and enhance Minnesota’s environment and natural resources. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans are holding these critical investments hostage. They won’t approve the bill unless the Governor and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) capitulate to their demands to delay the rulemaking process for clean car standards. Their decision has put approximately 80 important projects and 250 jobs in jeopardy. As you can read here in a Star Tribune piece, this would halt key funding for controlling the spread of aquatic invasive species, preserving pollinator populations, and more.
Clean car standards require automobile manufacturers to make and sell vehicles that emit lower levels of pollutants and vehicles that don’t have tailpipe emissions. They would give Minnesotans more cars to choose from, improve air quality, and significantly reduce our state’s carbon emissions. The graphic above shows the current timeline for the clean car rulemaking process. As you can see, a lengthy listening period has already begun and draft language is expected in early fall. There will be another round of public meetings and opportunities to comment when that language is announced. The standards likely won’t be adopted until 2021, which means the new requirements would take effect in 2025. There’s ample time to hear public input and implement these standards. A delay would merely prolong the process and cause costly and irreversible damage to our environment.
Stay Connected
My legislative updates will be temporarily paused later this week. During an election period, legislators cannot use state resources for unsolicited communications because it might create an unfair advantage. While I will no longer be able to send these weekly emails, I am still available to meet, answer questions, and discuss issues that are important to our community and our state. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at rep.rick.hansen@house.mn or 651-296-6828 at any time.
Sincerely,
Rick Hansen
State Representative
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