I recently sat down with Rachel Bents, a St. Paul resident who has decided to try to live car-free (without her own personal vehicle) in Minnesota.
The first thing I noticed about Rachel was her confidence. And her cute shoes. Here is a woman that has a defined sense of style and she is about to make what can feel like a radical change. Will these shoes and the challenge be compatible? Rachel tackles questions like this on her blog, Car Free in MN.   Her recent posts have included discussions about bike-appropriate footwear, walking into a bike shop as a woman, and how to show up for a first date on a bike.

To kick off our conversation, Rachel and I talked about the impetus for [or motivation behind] her decision to go car-free. She’s hoping not only to live a greener life, but also to be free of the burdens that come along with owning a car. “I’ve always liked driving a car to get from point A to point B,” Rachel pointed out, “but I hate the maintenance, the responsibilities associated with owning a car like changing the oil and buying gas.” Rachel is also excited about becoming part of the biking culture, the bus community, and mostly about interacting with people in her neighborhood that she otherwise wouldn’t have talked with had she been in her car.

The transition hasn’t been entirely easy. “I struggle to find the proper footwear. Is it possible to ride a bike in high heels? And I struggle with how to look professional at the end of a long bike ride. Can you wear a suit when you bike? How about a skirt?” asked Rachel.  These are common questions for many women considering commuting on their bicycles. The good news is that more and more employers are providing incentives for employees that bike or walk to work. St. Paul Smart Trips is a nonprofit that offers employers consulting services to identify, develop, and support a variety of employee transportation options. The Bike Walk Ambassadors and Transit Management Organizations (TMOs) in Minneapolis, Anoka, along the I-494 corridor offer similar services.

Overall, Rachel hopes that she’ll be able to show others that a “normal person that seeks comfort doesn’t have to wear spandex all the time to ride a bike.” Her biggest advice for people considering a similar move is to “Take it one day at a time. The  idea of never having a car again can be too overwhelming. Then, say your commitment out loud and seek support from friends, family, and area organizations.”

Despite the obstacles, Rachel is looking forward to the challenge of it all. To keep updated about Rachel’s progress throughout the year, be sure to read her blog.  Be warned: you might be inspired to permanently park your car as well!

The Twin Cities regional highway system continues to expand – it grew another 1 percent between 2000 and 2008 and is the 8th largest of the 25 most populous regions. When we look at lane miles per person, our highway system is 30 percent larger than Los Angeles and 30 percent larger than Portland, Ore.

What does this mean? It means we have more to maintain – both pavement and bridges. This winter alone made it pretty obvious to drivers that we are not keeping up on the maintenance side of things.

It also means that we are not investing enough in public transit. Most of the federal transportation money Minnesota receives can be used for any mode of transportation. While Portland, Ore., has invested its money in transit expansion, complete streets, and bike/ped projects since 2000 –and did not add a single new highway lane –our region continues to build new interchanges, add lanes, and grade separate more highways. For more information, see TLC’s recent policy brief on highway lanes (pdf).

While highway expansion makes it easier and faster to get around by car, it also makes it easier for people and businesses to locate in open space at the edge of the region. The meager job growth our region has seen since 2000 has been outside the 65 cities classified by the Met. Council as “developed.”

Subsidizing road projects in communities where you also have to build new sewer systems, new schools, and new local roads is not a cost effective strategy when we have existing communities closing schools and crying out for redevelopment.  It also seems like a bad bet as we look to a future with older residents, higher energy prices, and air quality problems.   We compete with regions such as Denver and Portland—and they are investing in a future with lots more public transit.

- Sigurd Olson, The Singing Wilderness, 1956

Sigurd Olson is a giant in Minnesota’s conservation history as one of the leading voices during the mid-1900s for the preservation of wild places like our beloved Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park.  He was also a literary acclaimed writer, penning his classic, The Singing Wilderness, in 1956, a must-read for any environmental activist.  So respected was Olson that his likeness is one of only a few busts displayed within our State Capitol.  It seems almost providential that Olson’s bust stands guard to Capitol Committee Room 107 where most of the Senate environment and conservation issues are addressed. 

Now that the 2010 session has ended I’ll follow my past tradition of using the last edition of my session musings to recognize those in the Legislature who championed the environmental cause in the tradition of Sigurd Olson.  I’m probably violating some sort of copyright or writers’ etiquette, but I have affectionately called these recognitions my “Sig” awards in honor of the great Northwoods traveler.

First, a disclaimer: these are my personal suggestions alone.  They are only my impressions as an old, overweight voyager who has traveled the wilds of both the Northwoods and the legislative halls.  I recognize there are many who could be honorable mentions.  This year’s Legislature has many individuals who have fought passionately for the protection of our Great Outdoors and would be too numerous to include.  My thoughts below are by no means intended to be an endorsement of any candidates, but only my humble impressions.  So here is my call for the three “Sig” awards for 2010, but feel free to add your thoughts below.

The Retiree Who Will Be Most Missed.  There is no question that the most missed retiree will be Sen. Dennis Frederickson (R-New Ulm).  After 30 years at the Capitol he certainly deserves retirement, but there is no doubt that his patient, persistent and gracious leadership will be missed in the Senate.  He was one of the strongest advocates for our lakes, rivers and our Great Outdoors.  Even though he was in the minority all the years he served in the Legislature, he was a leader on most of the important committees that crafted our major environmental protections and outdoor legislation.  All those who served with him on those committees will tell you he played a critical role in crafting legislation that actually works.  It would take me another article to identify all the legislation Senator Frederickson was so critical in guiding through the process, not the least of which are the LCCMR and the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Constitutional Amendment. 

As a conservationist and as a legislator, the best word to describe Dennis Frederickson is “stewardship.”  He has passed on to his children and grandchildren a Minnesota with more wild places to roam and cleaner lakes and rivers.

When I found the above quote from Sigurd Olson, I could imagine those words coming from Dennis, telling his grandchildren about the hike they were about to take.  One can get a glimpse of the stewardship ethic that beat in the heart of Sen. Frederickson by just reading his quote in his local paper, the New Ulm Journal, when talking of his retirement “. . . it is time to spend more time with my wife, Marj; fishing, hunting, canoeing the Minnesota River; and enjoying grandchildren’s concerts, gymnastics, basketball and soccer games. I want to visit our beautiful state parks and trails and enjoy the outdoors.” 

The Rookies of the Year.  The winners of the “Sig” rookies of the year certainly did not play the game at the Capitol like rookies.  In their first terms, Sen. Tony Lourey (DFL-Kerrick) and Rep. Mike Obermueller (DFL-Eagan) played the legislative game like seasoned veterans in guiding to passage one of MEP’s top priorities, the Complete Streets initiative.  The proposal will provide for more comprehensive street planning that will help reduce air pollution and create more transportation choices.  Despite having bipartisan support, it was clear that the more radical conservative elements of the Republican Party were out to sabotage the proposal and pushing for a gubernatorial veto.  This was disappointing and surprising given the fact that it was meant to empower local control and to lower the cost of street projects, which seems like something any true conservative would support.  Unfortunately, politics creates strange alliances and oppositions.

Given this opposition from some conservatives, Lourey and Obermueller quickly and carefully identified other bills they could amend their legislation to that would guarantee a gubernatorial signature.  Even though they were prepared to move in several different directions if needed, they were able to find a safe vehicle in the Omnibus Transportation Policy Bill (SF2540).  That bill was eventually signed by the Governor.  Good legislators learn early that getting their proposals passed doesn’t always mean passing their original bill.  You need the humility and the innovativeness to find a safe “vehicle bill” to guide your provisions past the opposition.  Lourey and Obermueller did this with the precision of veteran legislators.

The funny thing is, in the end their original bill number (SF2461/HF2801) actually passed the full Legislature.  It did not have the Complete Streets language in it, but was itself used as a vehicle on the last day of session.  It’s not uncommon that legislators will throw several bills at the Governor with different mixes of proposals, hoping he will sign one of their bills.  Veteran Transportation Chair Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing) grabbed SF2461 during the last days of session to send several provisions changing funding amounts on particular projects to the Governor.  Therefore, Lourey and Obermueller actually did pass the Complete Streets “bill”; it just didn’t have the complete street language in it.  Yes, I know it’s strange and confusing, but the bottom line is we have two champions in Lourey and Obermueller who were able to get things done for sensible transportation policy.

The Best Defensive Players.  Entering the 2010 session we knew it was going to be a year where we needed excellent defense.  The State was facing a record budget deficit that could threaten environment and conservation programs.  The business community made it clear it was a priority to challenge our progressive energy policy and regulations protecting our environment.  Therefore, we needed some defensive champions.  There were many legislators who played key roles in defending our Great Outdoors, but there are two who stood out to me: Senators Yvonne Prettner-Solon (DFL-Duluth) and John Doll (DFL-Burnsville). 

Last year the environment community was caught off guard by a successful amendment on the Senate floor to repeal the moratorium on the construction of new nuclear reactors.  The moratorium was adopted in 1994 as part of the resolution over the “temporary” storage of nuclear waste in casks outside the Prairie Island plant near Red Wing.  The wise decision by the 1994 Legislature was that a moratorium made sense until permanent storage was found by the federal government for our nuclear waste.  The ‘94 Legislature understood it was a total lack of stewardship to create more of this dangerous waste for future generations to clean up until we resolved the problems of disposing of the waste produced by our State’s two existing nuclear reactors.  Unfortunately, pro-nuclear forces have been pushing hard to repeal these types of moratoriums across the nation.

Prettner-Solon and Doll came out and flawlessly executed an exceptional defensive strategy in the Senate.  Despite the fact that there were votes to overturn the moratorium, they wisely turned the debate back on the central issues of what to do with the dangerous waste and the high cost to ratepayers to construct a nuclear reactor.  Prettner-Solon, as chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, Technology and Communications Committee, gave a committee hearing to a bill to repeal the moratorium and worked closely with Doll to have him offer an amendment placing conditions that required permanent storage of nuclear waste and ratepayer protections before a nuclear reactor could be constructed.  It so confused the pro-nuclear forces that they eventually withdrew the bill from consideration in the Committee.  When the pro-nuclear forces offered amendments to repeal the moratorium on the floor, just the threat of the Doll conditions amendment caused them to back off of their efforts.

Therefore, Prettner-Solon and Doll earned my Sig award for 2010.  Sorry everyone, there are no trophies or plaques.  You get plenty of those silly things from others to hang on your walls over the years.  Someday those plaques will end up in a box in your garage (at least that’s where mine are) to be thrown away by relatives after you die.  More important is that thanks to your efforts, we are passing on something more valuable to our descendents: “vistas of wilderness” and a Minnesota that they will be proud to live in and hike through.

“I rolled off the pony in a heap.  I staggered toward the stockade gate and fell headlong through the door of a house, where I lay in a stupor for hours.”
- Sam Brown, Fort Wadsworth, Dakota Territory, 1866

Sam Brown was a legendary frontiersman.  He was the son of Major Joseph R. Brown, for whom Browns Valley was named.  That valley lies between the headwaters of the Red and Minnesota Rivers on the western border of Minnesota; right at the tip of that little bump you see on the state map on our western border.

In 1866 Brown was assigned as a scout to Fort Wadsworth which was established only two years earlier in response to the Sioux uprising.  The fort was situated only a few miles west of the present-day city of Browns Valley, Minnesota.  In April 1866, the western frontier of Minnesota was on edge with fear of another Native American uprising when a report reached Fort Wadsworth from one of their scouts of a column of Native Americans moving toward Minnesota.  Sam Brown was quickly dispatched to warn settlers on his way to report the situation to the outpost at Elm River, 60 miles north.

Sam left in the fading light of dusk on April 19 and rode five hours on his stout pony, reaching the Elm River outpost a little after midnight — an amazing feat even for a seasoned frontiersman.  The veteran scout was mortified to find out from the outpost that they in fact had already encountered the Native American peace messengers who had earlier passed near Fort Wadsworth on their way north with no intentions of going to Minnesota.  Knowing he needed to quell a possible overreaction back at his home fort, he traded ponies and immediately set off for the 60-mile return ride in the dark.  He encountered a fierce thunderstorm, but was still able to guide his pony back to the fort.  Shivering from the cold rain he collapsed unconscious in the fort; when he awoke he was able to inform his commander of the false alarm.

This weekend, Minnesota’s legislators probably felt a lot like Sam Brown after his exhausting ride which was in fact a wild goose chase.  In order to reach a compromise on the state’s $3 billion deficit (almost 10% of the state’s general fund budget) and pass the last of their bills, the Legislature worked nearly nonstop starting Friday with the hopes of wrapping up their work by the constitutional deadline of Sunday at midnight.  After torturous negotiations they slowly reached a global agreement late Sunday night with the Governor.  Unfortunately, they realized they would not be able to “process the paper” in order to finish by midnight Sunday.  Therefore, the Governor and legislative leaders agreed to a short special session to be called one minute after the constitutional deadline of the regular session at 12:01 a.m. on Monday morning.

After long floor sessions and caucuses, legislators were literally collapsing from exhaustion.  They even had to take one legislator, Rep. Bud Nornes (R-Fergus Falls), to the hospital after he passed out during an early morning caucus, striking his head.  Fortunately, he was able to return a few hours later to cast his final votes when the Legislature actually was ready to process the final compromise between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Monday.  Not surprisingly, those votes happened several hours after they hoped to be finished.  Nonetheless, the last body finally adjourned at 10:57 a.m.

As is common, the global solution which closed the $3 billion budget gap was very anti-climatic.  Most legislators commented that it’s a bad product, but it was the best they could do in order to get them out of St. Paul.  Most of the savings were gained through budget gimmicks.  For example, nearly $2 billion was gained by moving a portion of the last payment in the budget cycle to school districts a couple of months.  This makes this biennium’s balance sheet look balanced by shifting the last payment into the next biennium.  In other words, it is a creative bookkeeping that simply kicks the can down the road for a future legislature to fix.

The environment and transit budgets were not immune to these budget gimmicks.  In April the Legislature adopted a smaller set of budget balancing provisions which included crediting $8 million to the general fund from a dedicated account known as the “closed landfill account.”  There was a total of $48 million in the account at the beginning of year.  This is money that has been set aside over the years to help reduce environmental problems from closing landfills in the future.  It was good fiscal planning by past legislatures to help our environment.  This Legislature took $8 million from this dedicated fund in April to help balance the budget with a promise to start replenishing the fund with interest by 2014 when the proceeds will start to be needed to actually close landfills.  That raid of only a portion of the account went so well back in April that as a part of the final budget balancing proposal passed on Monday, they raided the rest of the account, taking the full $48 million “temporarily” to cover the budget shortfall.

The Legislature also took over $10 million from transit operations with the hope that it will not increase fare box obligations.  They’re hoping that the Metropolitan Council can cover the operating reductions without raising fares by taking dedicated money from the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax and the Building Livable Community accounts to cover the losses.  This is unfortunate because these dollars are typically used to help develop future transit and livable community projects.  It’s like stealing from your remodeling fund that you have been building up over the years to pay the light bills.  Unfortunately, that is the desperate straits our state budget is in and the future outlook does not look brighter.  Depending on how you count the budget gimmicks to balance this year’s budget, the 2011 Legislature will be facing a shortfall somewhere between $5 billion and $8 billion.

Despite this somber finish to the session, there was some good news in the environment area.  Governor Pawlenty signed the LCCMR bill (HF2624) appropriating more than $26 million in critical investments in our Great Outdoors from the lottery proceeds.  He did line item veto the funding for one small energy program.  The Governor also signed the Omnibus Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Bill; Outdoor Heritage Appropriations (SF3275) bill.  The Governor did line item veto one conservation program for $100,000 to the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) for a pilot program to engage citizen volunteers.  The bill contains $58.9 million of Legacy appropriations and all the recommendations of the councils were followed.  The bill repealed the definitions of “protect, enhance and restore,” and left it to the selection process to follow the constitutional language.  This change was supported by many conservation organizations.  Given the terrible budget situation for the state, we were very fortunate that the voters in Minnesota passed this constitutional amendment.  Had we not had the protection of the Constitution, we would have seen significant cuts in our environment and conservation budgets.

In addition to the funding issues we were watching at the end of session, there were two negative policy provisions the Green Team was keeping a close eye on.  We were defending against a mining industry attempt to reduce their wetland replacement obligations by attaching an exclusive exemption on the Game and Fish bill (SF2900).   Fortunately, this provision was never offered as an amendment to the bill despite lobbying efforts by the mining industry.  We are thankful to the Senate author of the Game and Fish Bill, Sen. Satveer Chaudhary (DFL-Fridley), for not allowing the provision to be attached to the bill.  Also, the bill that included the repeal of the ban on new nuclear reactors never met for a conference committee and thus failed when the session adjourned.  Special thanks to Sen. Yvonne Prettner-Solon (DFL-Duluth) for her staunch opposition to letting this happen.

On the positive side, one of our top accomplishments of this session is the adoption of the state’s Complete Streets policy.  This legislation will provide for more comprehensive street planning that will help reduce air pollution.  On Saturday, the Governor signed the larger Omnibus Transportation Policy Bill (SF2540) which the Complete Streets policy was amended onto earlier in the session.  We appreciate the hard work and support of the authors of the omnibus bill (SF2540), Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing) and Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL- Minneapolis), and the chief authors of the Complete Streets bill, Sen. Tony Lourey (DFL-Kerrick) and Rep. Mike Obermueller (DFL-Eagan).  It was also critical that we had the support of the Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Tom Sorel.

Hopefully the legislators are home for a well-deserved rest before they have to hit the campaign trail.  It is always very difficult to leave a legislative session that starts with high hopes but ends in what seems to be a disappointing wild goose chase.  If it’s any encouragement to our legislators, Sam Brown did recover from his challenging ride in April of 1866, going on to help found the community of Browns Valley where he lived a long and productive life. And if you’re ever in Browns Valley, you can visit his first residence in the community that still stands to this day as a monument to the great frontiersman.

“It’s very confusing, and very wonderful.  People disagree, they get angry — and they do it in public and nobody dies.”
- Idil Abdull, May 11, 2010

On Wednesday, Warren Wolfe of the Star Tribune provided us with one of the more pleasant stories from the State Capitol, that of 36-year-old Somali-born Idil Abdull.   She is a citizen lobbyist from Burnsville working to make some changes in a bill to protect Somali autistic children.  “Lobby of one: Making sense of Legislature” provides an interesting perspective of our American legislative experiment in democracy, Minnesota style, through the eyes of a newcomer to our land of immigrants.  Ms. Abdull provides us with a refreshingly honest citizen’s perspective. 

I enjoy stories of courageous citizens making a difference in this crazy place.  This grizzled old lobbyist, who was a House member at one time, particularly enjoyed her realization of how the Senate schedule works. “Ah, I get it. They work on African time.  Five o’clock doesn’t mean five o’clock.”

No doubt Idil is now learning another valuable lesson regarding the last week of the legislative session here in Minnesota.  This is the week that the proverbial political bullets start flying with greater intensity around the Capitol as legislators take shots at each other and the Governor, as they battle to the end of session.  She will likely learn that it eventually will come to an end in something called the global agreement. Hopefully, as she so astutely observed, it will all be done in public and no one will die.  She also will learn that they do about a month’s worth of legislative work in a single day during the last week of session.  Most of what we do in all the months leading up to the last couple weeks of legislative session is to try to get our positions ready to survive the final rush before it all comes to a sudden crashing end.

As you know most of these reports have a historical twist.  This current story of Ms. Abdull was just too compelling for me to pass up, but there still is a historical twist to this article.  The historical twist is this very legislative update because it will be ancient history by the time you read it, given the pace of session this time of year.  Therefore, to put it in historical context, I’m writing this on Thursday evening.  Most of the information provided below will substantially change so stay tuned.  We will give you an update when and if the session ends.  With that said, here’s a quick update on where some of the MEP priorities are as of this Thursday evening:

Complete Streets.  Legislation to provide more comprehensive street planning that will help reduce air pollution and make roads safer for all users is now part of the larger Omnibus Transportation Policy Bill (SF2540).  The conference committee for SF2540 finished its work on Saturday and the bill was repassed by wide margins in both houses: Senate 58-3 and House 109-25.  The bill was presented to the Governor on Wednesday, May 12 and under the Constitution he has three days to sign or veto the bill.  The Governor has traditionally vetoed this particular omnibus bill in past years, but the chief authors of the omnibus bill, Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing) and Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis), have been working closely with the Department of Transportation and lobbying the Governor hard to have this year’s bill signed into law.  Hopefully he’ll sign it before he gets on the streets heading north for the fishing opener. 

Protecting Investments in Our Great Outdoors.  Three major things in the funding area happened this week.  First, the conference committee on the LCCMR bill (HF2624) appropriating the lottery proceeds finished its work Monday afternoon.  This is the bill in which Rep. Tom Rukavina diverted over $4 million intended for land purchases to preserve important environmental lands to go instead to state park maintenance, for the purpose of creating more jobs.  As a compromise, the conference committee reduced that to $850,000 and agreed to some language requiring the Department of Natural Resources to review all land purchases to make sure that they are of the highest priority for conservation.  This appropriation of more than $26 million in critical investments in our Great Outdoors also passed by overwhelming margins in both bodies (Senate 59-7 and House 95-36) and was presented to the Governor on Wednesday, May 12 for his anticipated signature.

Second was legislative approval of environmental financing in the Omnibus Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Bill; Outdoor Heritage Appropriations (SF3275).  As the tortured title of the bill indicates, it is a mixture of the Legacy sales tax appropriations and the remaining environmental and energy appropriations from other dedicated accounts, i.e., Game and Fish Fund and Environmental Fund – essentially the non-general fund appropriations.  The conference committee finished its work on Thursday and the result was very satisfying for those who have worked hard on the Legacy Amendment.  The bill contains $58.9 million of Legacy appropriations and all the recommendations of the councils were followed.  The bill repealed the definitions of “protect, enhance and restore” and left it to the selection process to follow the Constitution language.  This change was supported by many conservation organizations.  Both bodies suspended their rules to allow for the bill to be voted on Wednesday night where it also passed with solid bipartisan backing (Senate 59-7 and House 107-25) and was presented to the Governor on Thursday. 

Finally, the Governor vetoed the Legislature’s balanced budget proposal on Tuesday as soon as it hit his desk.  Part of that proposal was an additional $43 million in budget savings from environmental accounts, but they were not actually cuts in new services.  The Legislature recommended authorizing a little over $3 million in the Governor’s unallotments in the environment area.  Those are cuts that already have been absorbed by our agencies.  The remaining $40 million comes from reserves in the “closed landfill account,” which are set aside for future use in helping close landfills.  In April, the Legislature approved a one-time transfer of $8 million from the $48 million investment account that has been put into place to address the environmental impacts of closing our state’s landfills and placed the money in the general fund to lessen the deficit.  Since $8 million was easy money in April, they decided to take the full amount to help wrap up the session. The Legislature did include language in the bill that would require them to pay back this raid starting in 2014, with interest. 

Even though the Governor vetoed this bill, these additional savings from the environment area will likely be part of any global agreement to end the session.  They simply need cash to cover their obligations.  It’s like robbing your kid’s piggy bank to pay the light bill, but it is indicative of the dire straits our state budget is in right now.  Even though these temporary raids are concerning, most of the Green Team is very thankful to the voters for adopting a constitutional amendment last election because we know things would have been substantially worse had not the voters sent a strong message to our Legislature about how they value continued investments in our Great Outdoors.

The Moratorium on Nuclear Reactor Construction.  The repeal of the moratorium on the construction of new nuclear reactors in Minnesota was added to SF2971, a bill making technical changes to energy law.  Rep. Bill Hilty (DFL-Finnlayson) offered an amendment repealing the moratorium on the construction of new nuclear reactors in Minnesota because he felt it necessary to make a preemptive strike by requiring some conditions to be met if the moratorium was to be lifted.  Those conditions were protection for ratepayers and taxpayers from cost overruns from the construction of nuclear reactors, but unfortunately did not include any requirements to find a permanent storage site for radioactive waste.  The Senate version of this bill does not include the repeal and the Senate committee responsible for energy issues sent a strong message earlier this session that they wanted more expanded conditions, including permanent storage of waste.  We are still awaiting the meeting of this conference committee.  Hopefully things will be a little too busy for this conference committee to meet.

Coal Power.  There were attempts to repeal the moratorium on new energy coming from coal power plants in Minnesota or imported from other states as amendments to energy bills in both bodies.  In 2007 Minnesota approved a law that does not allow for the construction of coal power plants or the importation of dirty coal power from our neighboring states until there is a regional or national energy policy regulating carbon emissions.  Both the House and Senate rejected these amendments to repeal this common sense vision for our energy future.  Therefore, efforts to embrace dirty coal are likely dead for the session.

Protecting Our Water from Toxic Mining Pollution.  As reported earlier, the PolyMet project in northeastern Minnesota would result in the largest wetland destruction in Minnesota history if it goes forward.  The industry wanted to reduce their wetland replacement obligations by attaching an exclusive exemption to the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) technical fix bill.  HF3494 contains a special exemption for mining companies and the Green Team has been working aggressively to ensure the integrity of our wetlands laws by not allowing a change to give a special exemption to a particular industry.  The bill has yet to pass off the House floor, and we are working with the authors and BWSR to resolve this issue.  Hopefully this effort will also die with the end of session.

Again, by the time you read this post it will be ancient history when viewed through the hourglass of the last week of the legislative session.  We will do an update soon after the last body adjourns “Sine die.”  Ms. Abdull, “Sine die” means the legislative shooting has stopped for the year with hopefully only bills dying, but it also signifies the beginning of the shooting we call the political election season.  That is a whole other wonderful American political experience you should learn about.

Complete Streets.  Legislation to provide more comprehensive street planning that will help reduce air pollution and make roads safer for all users is now part of the larger Omnibus Transportation Policy Bill (SF2540).  That conference committee wrapped up its work on Saturday and the final report by the conference committee will likely be on the floor of each body today or tomorrow.  The Governor has traditionally vetoed this particular omnibus bill in past years, but the chief authors of the omnibus bill, Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing) and Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis), have been working closely with the Department of Transportation and lobbying the Governor hard to have this year’s bill signed into law.  We will likely know by the end of the week whether the bill will be signed.  There are other avenues for Complete Streets to get signed into law if the Governor throws a roadblock in front of SF2540, but we are hopeful that we will not need to take them.

Protecting Investments in Our Great Outdoors.  MEP has been working to ensure that accounts dedicated for conservation and environmental protection are not raided to fix the short-term budget deficit.  We are still working on the overall analysis, but generally the Legislature has been careful to honor the voters’ intent in creating the dedicated lottery proceeds and sales tax proceeds to go to the Great Outdoors.  There are two bills still moving through the process that we are watching.  First, the conference committee on the LCCMR bill (HF2624) appropriating the lottery proceeds finished its work Monday afternoon.  This is the bill in which Rep. Tom Rukavina diverted over $4 million intended for land purchases to preserve important environmental lands to go instead to state park maintenance, for the purpose of creating more jobs.  As a compromise, the conference committee reduced that to $850,000 and agreed to some language requiring the Department of Natural Resources to review all land purchases to make sure that they are of the highest priority for conservation.  The final report now goes to the full bodies for approval in the next couple days.  There is still no word on whether the Governor will sign the bill or possibly use some line-item vetoes.  The Governor did identify seven projects of concern, but with no direct threat to veto.

The second major bill on environmental financing is the Omnibus Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Bill; Outdoor Heritage Appropriations (SF3275).  As the tortured title of the bill indicates, it is a mixture of the Legacy sales tax appropriations and the remaining environmental and energy appropriations from other dedicated accounts, i.e., Game and Fish Fund and Environmental Fund – essentially the non-general fund appropriations.  A conference committee was appointed and met over the weekend without reaching a compromise.  Most of the funding provisions in the bill have been agreed to by the conference committee members and most MEP members are satisfied with the direction that the Legislature has taken with the dedicated accounts.  The issues tying up the conference committee have to do with policy provisions in the bill.  One of the biggest issues is the legislative definitions of the words “protect, enhance and restore” in the constitutional amendment.  There is also language in the bill creating a moratorium on hazardous waste incinerators that would affect a project 3M would like to move forward with and that the Governor has indicated would result in his veto of the legislation.  Therefore, there is still a great deal of uncertainty regarding the important appropriations contained within this bill being approved because of these policy language disputes.  The legislators would likely have to reach resolution in the next three days in order to have a realistic chance of passage.  Unfortunately, it has become a tradition that the Legacy funding issues are one of the last to be resolved in the legislative session, a tradition we should be working on reversing in the near future.

It has been reported that there is an additional $43 million in environment cuts in the latest recommendation by the Legislature after the landmark Supreme Court case on unallotments.  This is somewhat deceptive.  The Legislature has recommended authorizing a little over $3 million in the Governor’s unallotments in the environment area.  The remaining $40 million comes from reserves in the closed landfill account.  In April, the Legislature approved a one-time transfer of $8 million from an investment account that has been put into place to address the environmental impacts of closing our state’s landfills and placed the money in the general fund to lessen the deficit.  It’s sort of like raiding your children’s college fund to pay for an unexpected car repair.  That was only a portion of what was in that account, and now the Legislature is recommending using the full account to solve their short-term problems.  The Legislature did include language in the bill that would require them to pay back this raid starting in 2014, with interest, from the general fund when there are future needs to pay for the closed landfill program.  I would guess there have been several personal bankruptcies in our country that were paved with these types of good intentions to pay back raided accounts.

The Moratorium on Nuclear Reactor Construction.  The repeal of the moratorium on the construction of new nuclear reactors in Minnesota was added to SF2971, a bill making technical changes to energy law.  Rep. Bill Hilty (DFL-Finnlayson) offered an amendment repealing the moratorium on the construction of new nuclear reactors in Minnesota because he felt it necessary to make a preemptive strike by requiring some conditions to be met.  Those conditions were protection for ratepayers and taxpayers from cost overruns from the construction of nuclear reactors, but unfortunately did not include any requirements to find a permanent storage site for radioactive waste.  The Senate version of this bill does not include the repeal and the Senate committee responsible for energy issues sent a strong message earlier this session that they wanted more expanded conditions, including permanent storage of waste.  We await the meeting of this conference committee and are still sending a strong message to lawmakers that there is no need to change Minnesota’s policy on nuclear reactors.

Coal Power.  There were attempts to repeal the moratorium on new energy coming from coal power plants in Minnesota or imported from other states as amendments to energy bills in both bodies.  In 2007 Minnesota approved a law that does not allow for the construction of coal power plants or the importation of dirty coal power from our neighboring states until there is a regional or national energy policy regulating carbon emissions.  Both the House and Senate rejected these amendments to repeal the good 2007 law.  Therefore, efforts to embrace dirty coal are likely dead for the session.

Environmental Review and Permitting.  There was a strong push by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce to make significant changes to Minnesota’s environmental review and permitting laws.  Thanks to Land Stewardship Project (LSP) and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA), the language that survived in the above-mentioned Omnibus Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Bill will only result in minor adjustments that should not affect our environmental protections.  The Governor has indicated in his letter to the conference committee that he was disappointed with the Legislature in this area and had some concerns with the language MCEA had put in the bill on the floor during the debate.  It is not clear whether this will be grounds for vetoing the bill and negotiations continue.

Protecting Our Water from Toxic Mining Pollution.  Legislation seeking improvements in our mining laws to protect us from dangerous sulfide mining did not advance in the Legislature this year.  Recently we have been defending against efforts by the mining industry to change our wetlands replacement law to give mining special treatment.  The PolyMet project in northeastern Minnesota would be the largest wetland destruction in Minnesota history if it goes forward.  The industry wanted to reduce their wetland replacement obligations through special legislation.  HF3494 contains a special exemption for mining companies and MCEA has been working aggressively with the agencies overseeing wetland replacements to ensure that the integrity of our wetlands laws are not changed to give a special exemption to a particular industry.  The bill has yet to pass off the House floor and we are working with the authors to resolve this issue.  Most disconcerting about these provisions is that they were never introduced as a bill and were amended onto other provisions late in the process without adequate notice for the public.

Therefore, there is still some important work for environmental protection in the last few days of session.  All the Green Team lobbyists are hoping for a quick positive end to session.  Most of all we are hoping that a special session (which are never very special) does not happen.

“The administration of government has become more complex.”
- US Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, June 1, 1931

Every aspiring attorney throughout this land of the free has to read in their constitutional law class this quote from the opinion in the landmark federal Supreme Court decision of Near v. Minnesota, which is viewed as a foundational case for the freedom of press. “Landmark decisions” are the rare cases that are truly game changers on our political or social fields of competition. Minnesota was the birthplace of the set of circumstances that gave birth to this great landmark decision regarding the freedom of press.

Jay M. Near and Howard A. Guilford ran a local political rag in the Twin Cities, The Saturday Press, in September of 1927 at the height of prohibition and mobster control of Minneapolis. Their little paper was keen on exposing corruption and they did not mince words. Guilford would later be shot in a mob-style hit in 1934. Near and Guilford themselves were no paragons of virtue. They were known to take a bribe to run attacks on rivals in their rag and they were notoriously anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic and racist. They expounded the belief in their paper that Minneapolis was owned by the Jewish Mafia.

One of their occasional targets was then Hennepin County attorney Floyd B. Olson. They believed Olson was part of the corrupt structure; the reality is that Olson gained his fame by attacking organized crime. He used his tough-nosed prosecutor image to be elected governor in 1930, which later led him to be venerated as one of our greatest governors. As County Attorney back in 1927, Olson obtained an injunction stopping the publishing of The Saturday Press by Near and Guilford under Minnesota’s “Gag Law.” Passed in 1925, the “Gag Law” gave authority to the government to shut down as a public nuisance any “malicious, scandalous and defamatory newspaper, magazine or other periodical.” 

After the action was upheld twice in the Minnesota Supreme Court, the case caught the eye of the newly-formed organization known as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the wealthy owner of the Chicago Tribune, Robert Rutherford McCormick. It was through their encouragement and money that the matter was appealed to the US Supreme Court, setting the stage for the landmark opinion providing the level of freedom of expression in our press that we’ve come to take for granted. Imagine what the new world of Internet communication would have looked like had not the Court struck down the Minnesota law.

Adding to the intrigue of this close 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court was the fact that the dissenting opinion was written by Justice Pierce Butler. It was likely that many of Butler’s friends were targets of The Saturday Press.  Butler rose to prominence in Minnesota legal circles as one of the most preeminent railroad attorneys in the country. He was a corporate attorney who guided giants like James J. Hill to even greater prominence in the era of ever expanding railroad monopolies. Nonetheless, he came from humble beginnings, born as one of nine children to Irish Catholic immigrants in a log cabin farmstead near Rosemount, Minnesota. His earnest view was that the honest administration of government only became more complex and challenging when attacked by rags that were proven to be malicious and defamatory.

Some 80 years after the landmark decision Near v. Minnesota became a game changer in the freedom of press, another landmark decision has rocked the Minnesota political environment. To paraphrase Justice Hughes, “the administration of state government has become more complex” after the landmark decision in Brayton v. Pawlenty released on Wednesday, May 5 by the Minnesota Supreme Court. 

The facts in this case are fairly straightforward. At the completion of the 2009 session, the Legislature presented a series of bills to the Governor which would have balanced the budget as required by our Constitution. The Governor chose to veto the tax bill after the Legislature adjourned, which left the state a couple billion dollars short of a balanced budget. The Governor took advantage of a rarely used statute known as the unallotment statute. This statute allows the Governor to make adjustments in the budget as a result of unexpected shortfalls in revenue or additional expenditures not anticipated when the budget was balanced. The statute had been used in the past for small budget imbalances, but never used to balance the budget after the Legislature and the Governor could not reach agreement during the legislative session.

As part of the largest unallotments in state history, one of the programs cut by the Governor was Minnesota Supplemental Aid/Special Diet Program for families on welfare. Deanna Brayton was one of the recipients of assistance through the program, and with the help of the nonprofit Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, challenged the Governor’s unallotment action. The Ramsey County District Court ruled that the Governor’s exercise of his unallotment authority violated separations of power principal to our state constitution. The Governor appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court.

In a surprise decision that reverberated throughout the marble halls of the Capitol like a cannon blast on Wednesday of this week, the Supreme Court upheld the Ramsey County decision. The most intriguing aspect of the decision was the fact that the swing vote and the one writing the decision was Chief Justice Eric Magnuson. Magnuson was appointed to the court by Governor Pawlenty two years ago, leaving a lucrative private practice. Prior to the Governor’s election, he practiced law with Magnuson, who was viewed by many as one of the Governor’s closest confidants. Soon after taking the reins as our chief justice, Magnusson realized the court was in the grips of a financial crisis which could jeopardize its core mission of delivering justice to the citizens of Minnesota. Magnuson worked closely with other stakeholders to implement efficiencies within the court system, but he soon recognized the court needed an increased budget to maintain core services. His desire for better investments put him at odds with the “no new taxes” rhetoric of the Governor. 

On Tuesday the Governor again turned on his rhetoric to position himself for higher office by threatening the Legislature to balance the budget or he would do it himself through unallotments again. “If they won’t do it, I’ll do it for them,” was the quote that appeared in the Star Tribune on Wednesday, the same day the decision in Brayton v. Pawlenty was released. It seemed like the senior legal partner Magnuson was almost saying to the junior Pawlenty “that’s not quite the way the Constitution of the people was designed, my lad.” Magnuson’s opinion clearly outlined that unallotments can only be used after the budget has been balanced. Magnuson ruled that the Legislature never intended by creating this statute to allow the Governor to act unilaterally to create a balanced budget. Therefore, his only option is to work with the Legislature to first balance the budget and only after that can he use the unallotment to deal with unanticipated budget shortfalls.

The decision essentially means the Governor’s $2.7 billion in unilateral budget cuts in 2009 basically did not go into effect. Though the integrity of the Constitution was saved by this court case, the immediate budget crisis just became more challenging for the Legislature. With the Governor’s unallotments on the books and the majority of the budget issues solved earlier in April, the Legislature was looking at finding about $131 million in savings from the massive Health and Human Services budget. Frankly, the session was rather boring for most lobbyists, as we waited for the political conventions to finish so that the Legislature can solve this relatively small problem. That game has changed substantially with the Supreme Court decision and things are now much more complex and interesting. 

In the midst of the quickly changing playing field of this 2010 legislative session, several key environmental issues have been taking shape.

Nuclear Power. The energy area certainly saw a game changer occur in the House on Thursday afternoon while they were debating SF2971 which made technical changes to our energy laws. Rep. Bill Hilty (DFL-Finnlayson) offered an amendment repealing the moratorium on the construction of new nuclear reactors in Minnesota. Rep. Hilty is a champion on environmental issues, but felt it necessary to make a preemptive strike with an amendment to repeal the moratorium that required some conditions to be met. Those conditions were protection for ratepayers and taxpayers from cost overruns related to the construction of nuclear power plants, but unfortunately did not include any requirements to find a permanent nuclear waste storage site. The amendment passed on a 73-59 vote with an unusual mix of support. Not all the pro-nuke legislators supported this change, but several strong environmentalists also followed Hilty. The issue will now go to conference committee with the Senate, who has not passed the moratorium repeal this year but did pass a repeal last year by a wide margin.

Coal Power. On the same House energy bill there were three attempts to repeal the moratorium on new energy coming from coal power plants in Minnesota or imported from other states. The 2007 legislation does not allow for the construction of coal power plants or the importation of dirty coal power from our neighboring states until there is a regional or national energy policy regulating carbon emissions. Only two of the amendments had a roll call vote and they both failed on a vote of 58-74.

Complete Streets. The Complete Streets legislation is now part of the Omnibus Transportation Policy Bill (SF2540) as it passed out of the Senate. The House has adopted its version of the omnibus bill, but it does not include the Complete Streets legislation. This is not a concern because the House has already had a strong bipartisan vote passing a Complete Streets bill on its own. Because of that, it can be taken up in the conference committee and will likely be included in the final conference report. The big question now is whether the Governor will sign an omnibus transportation policy bill. He vetoed a similar bill last year for various reasons.

Legacy Amendment Funding. Late Thursday night the full House passed their version of the Legacy Amendment Funding (HF3790) only after some last-minute backroom negotiations with some hunting and fishing groups and agriculture groups. Several mostly hunting and fishing groups did not like the adoption last year of definitions of the words, “protect, enhance and restore.” These groups want more of a focus on land acquisition and habitat restoration. As a result of some last-minute pressure on Thursday, they were able to obtain some modifications to the definitions through a floor amendment. The Senate has repealed the definitions and it is likely the issue will be worked out in conference committee. Agricultural groups objected to a groundwater fee increase to help supplement funding from the Legacy Amendment to study groundwater in the 11 county metro area. The fee would have only applied to large groundwater users like farmers who irrigate within the 11 county metro area. This means there will be less money for groundwater monitoring in the Twin Cities area.

The Legislature must finish their work by Monday, May 17 under the Constitution. Given the fact that things just became a little more complex after the game-changing landmark decision from the Supreme Court, it is likely the session will not finish early. There is an outside chance they may want to finish before fishing opener weekend which starts on Saturday, May 15, but that will depend on how soon legislative leaders can work out a global agreement with the Governor. As always a great deal happen in the last week of the legislative session as they rush to adjournment, so stay tuned for updates. I’ll likely try to get a supplemental update out early next week on the collaborative agenda provisions as they enter the last week.

“The time has arrived for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states’ rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights. . . our land is now, more than ever before, the last best hope on earth.  I know that we can . . . begin here the fuller and richer realization of that hope – that promise – of a land where all men are truly free and equal . . .”

- Hubert H. Humphrey, 1948 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, PA

In the American political and governing structure, party conventions often become the critical moment in time that set in course great changes in the history of our nation and become launching pads for great political careers.  In 1948, the Democratic National Convention that gathered during the second week of July, in typical midsummer hot, steamy East Coast weather, was a convention that changed the structure of our national political landscape and helped launch the career of one of Minnesota’s greatest political leaders.

By 1948 the national Democratic Party was in disarray.  Having overcome the Great Depression and leading the nation successfully through World War II, they no longer had any great cause to bind together their far ranging and easily-fractured coalition.  As they walked into their 1948 convention, there was a sense of inevitable defeat of the accidental president, Harry Truman, at the hands of the professional and energetic candidacy of New York Governor Thomas Dewey.

A year earlier, a small gathering of Northern liberals known as the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) met in Chicago.  The group was made up mostly of FDR New Deal administration members who were exiled during the war years and the Truman administration.  It was at this meeting in Chicago that a previously unknown young mayor from Minneapolis named Hubert Humphrey caught the eye of this group, with his keen political vision complemented by an energy and infectious speaking style.  With Humphrey’s leadership, the ADA prepared for the Philadelphia convention with the hopes of introducing an aggressive civil rights plank that would call for federal action to outlaw lynching, insure Southern blacks the right to vote, and open the military to equal access for minorities.  They knew they would face institutional opposition from the Southerners who stubbornly guarded the states’ rights plank of the Democratic Party.

The ADA, under the leadership of Humphrey, led an effective floor campaign convincing delegates that a strong civil rights plank would re-energize the liberal Northern base and bring in the disenfranchised minority communities.  The floor action culminated in what many have considered one of the greatest political speeches of the 20th century by Humphrey.  It resulted in an overwhelming victory for the strong ADA civil rights plank.  Soon thereafter delegates from four Southern states bolted from the convention to nominate “Dixiecrat” Strom Thurmond for the presidency.

Many felt this Southern defection was the doom of the Democratic Party in 1948.  Undeterred, Harry Truman wisely took the momentum from the convention, galvanizing support from Northern liberals and an energized minority community to pull off one of the greatest upset victories in American history.  In the race for U. S. Senate that same year, Hubert Humphrey rode to victory on a wave of pride that Minnesotans felt from the triumph of our favorite son in Philadelphia.  Though the bold words of the 1948 civil rights plank would not find their way into law until 1964, the actions of Humphrey launched him into national prominence and led to one of the greatest political careers in Minnesota history.

Therefore, political conventions do matter.  The 2010 Minnesota Legislature has moved cautiously through April because of the upcoming party conventions at the end of this month.  Governor Pawlenty’s announcement that he will not seek reelection has touched off one of the biggest political scrums for the direction of Minnesota and has offered an opportunity for many to launch their political careers to a new level. The possible direction of our environmental and energy policy certainly will be affected by the outcome of this next election. 

The direction of Minnesota’s environmental policy will start to take shape with the DFL’s endorsing convention in Duluth this weekend, with the endorsement for their gubernatorial candidate occurring on Saturday (and possibly into the wee hours of Sunday morning).  Due to federal election law changes, Minnesota has moved up its primary election to the second week in August; that’s why the conventions have been moved to April prior to the end of session as opposed to a more typical mid-June date.  Having conventions during legislative session is a new phenomenon which has slowed the progress of the Legislature since the Passover/Easter break.  Even though the Legislature has been relatively quiet leading up to this convention, there were a couple of issues on MEP’s collaborative agenda which did see action.

The legislation to help the Minnesota Department of Transportation work closely with communities to develop environmentally sensitive and safe roadways known as Complete Streets reached the House floor for final House debate and passage on Wednesday.  The chief author of HF2801, Rep. Mike Obermueller (DFL- Eagan), did a stellar job in presenting the legislation.  After Obermueller effectively fought off some partisan amendments, the bill passed on a solid bipartisan vote of 92-37.  Ten Republicans joined all of the DFLers in the House to support the legislation.  The two leading Republican candidates for governor were not on the list of Republicans supporting the legislation, but more on that next week.

On Monday in the Senate, there were two attempts to amend energy bills with the repeal of the State’s moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants which was adopted back in 1994 as part of the Prairie Island compromise.  When a similar amendment was offered a few weeks ago on the Senate floor, the DFL majority handled the procedure quite poorly.  Fortunately, the DFL majority showed a much steadier hand on the driving wheel of their parliamentary proceedings this time around; Hubert Humphrey would have been proud.  Both amendments were ruled out of order under the germaneness rule and the DFL caucus remained unified when the minority attempted to overturn the procedural decisions.

In a few days there will be plenty of political discussion following one of the most significant political conventions in the history of the Minnesota DFL party . . . a party, by the way, which was built in no small part by Hubert Humphrey.  You can expect that the DFL majority in the Legislature will quickly digest the meaning of that convention and move with great dispatch to wrap up the 2010 legislative session.  There will be little desire to stay around to battle the lame-duck governor when the real political battle will be waged in the cities, hamlets, and distant back roads across this great State. 

Next week we will touch on the significance of the Republican convention, which will be held on Friday and Saturday of next week.  So stay tuned as Minnesota history is being made at both the Legislature and political party conventions.  If you want to be part of this great debate for Minnesota’s future, I would suggest showing up for the gubernatorial candidate forum hosted by MEP on Sunday, May 2 at 1 p.m. at the Living Green Expo located on the State Fairgrounds.  For more details, go to: http://www.mepartnership.org/mep_pressroom.asp?new_id=3835

Over the past few months the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has held dozens of listening sessions and has been requesting comments about its upcoming $100 million Sustainable Communities Grant Program.

The program’s context is the half dozen Livability Principles set out for the federal sustainable communities partnership between HUD, the Department of Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency:

• Provide more transportation choices
• Promote equitable, affordable housing
• Enhance economic competitiveness
• Support existing communities
• Coordinate policies and leverage investment
• Value communities and neighborhoods

The new grant program is geared toward partnerships between local and regional governments, nonprofits, advocacy organizations, and others who will work together to create regional plans for sustainable development. There will also be more limited funding for detailed action plans and possibly a very few grants to fund very innovative ideas that can be good models for others.

The final requirements for the grant program are expected to be released by mid-April. But preliminary indications are that some grants will be for large metropolitan areas while at least 25 percent of the grant funding must be set aside for small metropolitan and/or rural areas.

Selection criteria ask, “Does the application…

• Further the creation of livable communities by integrating housing, transportation, and environmental decisions?
• Demonstrate a commitment to take well-developed plans and move them into implementation?
• Represent a strong, inclusive, collaborative effort for the region?”

Tentatively, grant proposals are expected to be due in early June 2010, with grant awards by early August.

More information.