Update on Climate Related Funding for cities in the MN House, Senate Budget Bills and Governor’s Budget Proposal –

State Policy Team – city leaders are monitoring policy developments and advocating for changes at the city, county, metro state, and federal levels to advance equity and resilience

Please contact your Senator and Representative to support these bills Look up the status & future meetings bills https://www.revisor.mn.gov/
Watch Live MN Senate Webcasts MN House Webcasts

Governor’s Budget: 

  •   GreenStep Cities is included in MPCA budget (pg. 28) for 1 FTE and $50,000/annual. 
  •   GreenCorps is included in MPCA budget (pg. 129) to increase from 46 host sites to 76.  
  •   Resilient Communities Grants and Technical Assistance in MPCA budget (pg. 24) for 86.9M for planning and implementation (resilience and mitigation) and technical assistance with design, analysis, assessments, planning, and accessing federal grants. 
  •   State Competitiveness Fund is included in Commerce budget (pg. 16) for 113.75M to provide matching funds for IIJA, provide grant writing capacity, and a new web tool for tracking

Bills related to sustainability and local/tribal governments: 

  • HF 2677 (Kraft, Elkins, Senser Mura) SF2790 (Morrison) Metropolitan Council; climate action plan as part of comprehensive plan content required, land use study and report to legislature by council required, and money appropriated.
  • HF597 (Kraft)/ SF1388 (McEwen) Grant program established to provide financial assistance to cities to address climate change, and money appropriated.
  •  HF1550 (Koegel)/ SF1562 (Dibble) Federal grants technical assistance and match requirements funding provided, and money appropriated.
  • HF747 (Reyer)/ SF1404 (Port) Program established to award grants for installation of solar energy generating systems on public buildings, report required, and money appropriated.
  • HF 772 (Kraft)/ SF1368 (Port) State Building Code; energy code for new commercial building adoption process modified.
  • HF302 (Howard)/ SF1094 (Port) Eligible use of housing infrastructure bonds added, and issuance of housing infrastructure bonds prescribed, bonds issued.
  •  HF1656 (Acomb) Establishing grant programs to enhance the competitiveness of Minnesota entities in obtaining federal money for energy projects
  • HF677 (Elkins)/ SF912 (Morrison) Active transportation finance and policy provisions governed, and money appropriated.
  • HF860 (Petersburg)/ SF744 (Jasinski) Local food promotion and education event appropriation
  • HF1316 (Pursell)/ SF1245 (Gustafson) Soil health financial assistance program established, pilot program modified, and money appropriated.
  • HF1273 (Tabke)/ SF472 (Weber) Local emergency management grant funding provided for local planning and preparedness efforts, report required, and money appropriated.

2023 Legislative Session Priorities

100% Clean Electricity by 2040 HF7 / SF4 PASSED

MN House Floor debate & vote today Wed Jan 25 2:30pm to 7pm, MN House Chamber
Background https://www.100percentmn.org/policy-platform

Buildings – improving statewide building codes more often, matching funds for IIJA Energy Assistance/ pre weatherization,

Establishing a MN Green Bank – to help fund green infrastructure and buildings with federal IIJA Green Bank Funds Rep Emma Greenman, with Minneapolis, St. Paul, St. Paul Port Authority, MN Housing

Geothermal permitting Rep Patty Acomb, is writing legislation MDH & DNR with guidance from Darcy Solutions to enable routine permitting for ground water geothermal wells

Zero Waste – EPR for packaging, electronics and mattresses, SCORE funding reform to get cities and counties more $ for recycling, Recycling Grants, Bonding $ Hennepin Co. Organics Anerobic Digester. Partnership for Waste and Energy 2023 Legislative Priorities

MN Climate Innovation Finance Authority bill  HF 2336

Rep. Greenman & Senator. Xiong    

Updating Minnesota’s commercial energy code

  • HF 772 (Kraft)/ SF1368 (Port) State Building Code; energy code for new commercial building adoption process modified.
  • Buildings are a top source of carbon pollution—both globally and in Minnesota—contributing 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. And while Minnesota’s electricity and transportation sectors are getting cleaner, pollution from buildings continues to grow every year. One of the solutions to this problem is updating Minnesota’s energy codes. https://fresh-energy.org/code-advancements

Transportation, EVs and Transit – comprehensive transportation funding package that prioritizes fix it first, transit, E.V.s & bike/ped while leveraging federal funds https://www.movemn.org/initiative/transportation-forward/

  • Transportation – Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act appropriation HF 26 Koegel SF 24 Dibble

Zero Waste 2023 Legislative Platform Partnership on Waste and Energy https://recyclingandenergy.org/legislative-platform/   

  • Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging, electronics and mattresses,
  • Increase SCORE funding for cities & counties to meet challenging recycling goals
  • Support Zero-waste grant program created, reports required, and money appropriated.
  • Support to amend solid waste management tax allocation PWE Letter Supporting the Bills
  • Bonding $ for Hennepin Co. Organics Anerobic Digester

Gov. Tim Walz unveils budget for economic growth, climate resilience

https://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/sessiondaily/Story/17557

The Proposed Budget invests in

  • Pre-weatherization funding and clean energy workforce training program
  • Solar for Schools program, offering solar energy for up to 723 more schools across the state
  • Expanding the resilient communities grant program to help communities upgrade aging infrastructure with climate-smart design, combat flooding and heat island effect, and create local jobs.
  • Adopts a framework for updating statewide commercial building energy code that ensures all new commercial and large multi-family construction is net-zero by 2036.
  • Increasing MPCA staffing for MN Greenstep Cities
  • Increase Dept of Commerce staffing to apply for competitive federal IIJA grants and get funding out to cities from the IIJA funding and make the most of IRA tax credits

Maximizing federal investments in Minnesota

  • Fresh Energy Action Alert Tell your legislators to build Minnesota’s clean energy future!
  • The Legislature must act to avoid missing out on this unprecedented investment in Minnesota’s future infrastructure.
  • We need to pursue state matching dollars to ensure that Minnesota fully leverages the historic opportunity presented by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This is a unique opportunity to advance everything from electric school buses to a more resilient electric grid. Some of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds—as much as 40 percent—will come in the form of competitive grants over the next five years.

Expand Passenger Rail in MN: Support state investment to win competitive federal funds. 

Call your State Senator and House Representative to urge their support for HF1393/SF2365!

The Northern Lights Express (NLX) is a proposed higher speed passenger rail project that would provide rail service between Minneapolis and Duluth https://www.dot.state.mn.us/nlx/