Melissa Hortman remembered as climate and clean energy champion for Minnesota

Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman is being remembered by advocates and lawmakers as one of the the majority central circumstances and clean resource leaders in the state s history From the state s trailblazing group solar venture to the flurry of potential and environmental laws adopted during Democrats trifecta Hortman had a hand in passing several of the country s majority ambitious consequential state-level clean capacity guidelines during her two-decade legislative career Hortman who was a Democrat and her husband Mark were shot and killed in their suburban Minneapolis home Saturday in what government say was a politically motivated assassination The alleged gunman Vance Boelter is also charged with attempted murder for shooting Democratic Minnesota state Sen John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hortman who was years old twice tried for a state House seat before definitively winning in Moving through the ranks of House leadership the attorney served as speaker pro tempore deputy minority leader and minority leader before becoming speaker in and serving in that role for three legislative sessions Clean force was her first love mentioned Michael Noble who worked with Hortman for more than years during his time as executive director of the Minnesota-based clean-energy procedures advocacy organization Fresh Potency She really mastered the details and dug deep into setting and clean power Hortman chaired the House Capacity Guidelines Committee in a standout year for solar initiative in which she helped pass measure establishing one of the country s first neighborhood solar programs and also a law requiring utilities to obtain of their electricity from solar by with a goal of by That was the year we put solar on the map Noble commented Related from MinnPost archive Public Voices piece by Sen John Marty about clean capacity provision Group solar advocate John Farrell recalled answering Hortman s questions in detail concerning the benefits and drawbacks of neighborhood solar during meetings She was preparing to defend the bill and convince others even Republicans that it could be something they could sponsorship She wasn t going to tell them something untrue commented Farrell who directs the Ability Democracy Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance an advocacy group She was going to seek reasons why this approach might be something that they would care about or that it might align with their values Nicole Rom former executive director of the Minnesota-based youth situation advocacy group Atmosphere Generation noted Hortman was committed to educating herself on context issues Hortman attended the United Nations Conference of the Parties COP weather conferences and was part of the University of Minnesota s delegation at the Paris context talks where her vision for more ambitious state conditions goals and guidelines may have begun to percolate Rom disclosed The product was the strong weather rule Minnesota accomplished in Rom reported If she never served a day before or a day after the session she would still go down in history as an incredible leader explained Peter Wagenius legislative and political director of the Sierra Club s Minnesota chapter After Democrats won control of the state House Senate and governor s office in the ballot Hortman understood the trifecta was a rare opportunity that may not arise for another decade he noted The following year Hortman combined her skills and experience as a legislator committee chair and political leader to push forward an agenda that would fundamentally transform clean strength and transportation in Minnesota while solidifying her reputation as one of the legislative body s greatest leaders The session s accomplishments included a state requirement of carbon-free electricity by along with more than other potential and environmental agenda provisions that created a state green bank funded renewable capacity programs supported sustainable building and increased funding for transit Other laws passed that year required the state to consider the surroundings impacts of transportation projects provided electric bus rebates revised the locality solar venture to focus on lower-income customers and improved grid-interconnection bottlenecks When the trifecta arrived she ensured her colleagues were ready to move on a whole list of items in an unapologetic way Wagenius noted Hortman also practiced intergenerational respect by elevating and helping pass laws proposed by first- and second-term legislators he declared Democratic Rep Patty Acomb announced Hortman empowered others within the party made legislators feel they were like a group and had a habit of never taking credit for legislative success She shied away from that Acomb stated Acomb who began serving in became chair of the House Environment and Force Finance and Protocol Committee four years later She credits Hortman with that opportunity and with making Minnesota a national leader in clean potential In so plenty of means she was a trailblazer she noted Gregg Mast executive director of the industry group Clean Potential Financial system Minnesota revealed Hortman followed up on the historic session with a legislative agenda that built upon the previous year s success The Legislature made the permitting process for strength projects less onerous while passing a handful of other measures promoting clean buildings and transportation She knew that ultimately to reach clean potency by we really needed to be putting steel in the ground and building these projects Mast revealed Ben Olson legislative director for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy first met Hortman years ago while lobbying for an environmental bill He exposed her to be kind witty and pleasantly sarcastic the kind of legislator who appealed questions closely listened to responses and offered sage advice Everyone liked her and she was close to everybody who had spent time with her he declared Ellen Anderson a former Democratic state senator and clean potential champion remembered when Hortman inquired if she could co-teach a program with her on surroundings change at the University of Minnesota in Hortman came prepared for classes with notebooks of input and information She was super organized Anderson mentioned Rom thinks Hortman s love for nature drove her situation and clean power advocacy The legislator loved hiking biking gardening and other outdoor programs In a blog post for Conditions Generation before attending the UN s conditions conference Hortman wrote about the impact of conditions change on trees and how she had planted nearly two dozen in her backyard to offset her family s carbon emissions It was a message not lost on her two children Colin and Sophie who suggested in a comment that people commemorate their parents by planting a tree visiting a park or trail petting a dog and trying a new hobby Hold your loved ones a little closer they wrote Love your neighbors Treat each other with kindness and respect The best way to honor our parents memory is to do something whether big or small to make our public just a little better for someone else The post Melissa Hortman remembered as state and clean resource champion for Minnesota appeared first on MinnPost