- The House Health and Human Services Finance omnibus bill, HF 2414, was passed last week. House Party of Trump anti-choice zealots - that is, all MN House Republicans - tried and failed to add 6- and 20-week abortion bans. Of course. (The foregoing is paraphrased from an email I got from Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund).
- The House passed a 100% clean energy by 2050 mandate.
- In fact, the Senate has very different ideas in general about anything good for the environment.The Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association (MnSEIA) said the bill could increase solar jobs in the state 10x. “We estimate that if this bill were to pass through the senate, then our state’s solar industry would balloon from 4,600 jobs to well over 45,000,” MnSEIA Executive Director David Shaffer told pv magazine.But it may be too good to be true. Every state house to date that has passed a 100% clean energy mandate has been dominated by the Democratic Party. And while the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party holds a 75-59 majority in Minnesota’s House, in the Senate it’s a different story: a story where Republicans hold a 35-32 majority.Sources close to this bill have made it clear to pv magazine that some features of this bill – specifically the 100% clean energy mandate – have a snowball’s chance in Hell in the Senate due to Republican opposition, and this concern was alluded to in Shaffer’s statements. - pv magazine
(In mid-April), the Minnesota Senate Environment and Natural Resources Finance committee unveiled an omnibus budget bill that would dramatically cut general state support for our natural resources by 25%. These cuts, representing a funding decrease of $90 million from the last two year budget, would harm the ability of agencies like the Department of Natural Resources, the Pollution Control Agency, and the Board of Water and Soil Resources to tackle environmental threats to Minnesota’s health and livelihoods. - Minnesota Environmental Partnership
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