More BillsI presented a bill that came to my desk from Minnesota students. House File 2297 would implement climate justice curricula in Minnesota schools. When it comes to climate change, it is young peoples’ futures we need to be discussing. I want to celebrate the work of the students who testified and helped to write this bill. They want to learn about climate change and its impacts on the most disadvantaged. Education reduces fear, gives us agency, and empowers us to take action and engage in our democracy. Last week, I was joined by St. Louis Park Mayor Jake Spano to request a $16.6 million investment for infrastructure projects on Cedar Lake Road and Louisiana Avenue in St. Louis Park. With a roundabout at a key intersection to improve traffic flow and reduce idling, traffic calming measures to improve safety for drivers and pedestrians, pullouts for bus transit, and new bike infrastructure, this project fits well within St. Louis Park's and Hennepin County's long term vision around transportation and climate change. Further, 60% of traffic on these roadways is from outside St. Louis Park. In particular, residents and businesses around Minnetonka, Plymouth, and Golden Valley use these roadways. For these reasons, the state should invest in our critical local infrastructure.  Last Thursday, I presented House File 2269, which requires owners of existing buildings of 50,000 square feet or more to annually document each building’s energy use via an Environmental Protection Agency computerized benchmarking tool and send the information to the Department of Commerce. St. Louis Park is one of five cities in Minnesota that has such a program, so we’re learning from what we do in SLP and applying it statewide. Because almost 20% of statewide greenhouse gas emissions come from commercial buildings, this is an important bill - you can’t reduce what you don’t measure. And, when commercial buildings collect energy benchmarking data, it has been shown to reduce energy usage by 1-3% per year, thus causing less greenhouse gas emissions. We know that these programs don’t take a lot of time from building owners, so I’m excited to have it go statewide. I was happy that the House Judiciary Committee passed the bill and sent it to the House Climate and Energy Committee. Watch my bill presentation here. You can find all of the bills I have authored here. |