Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Apparently it’s OK because legislators asked kids to draft the bill.

Minnesota Introduces Bold New Climate Change Bill Crafted By Teens



Brian Kahn

Apr 13, 2019, 4:00am

Everyone always looks to California for climate action, but don’t sleep on the Midwest. On Thursday, Minnesota legislators introduced a sweeping new bill modelled after Alexandrio Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.



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“This is our future, and we’re actually taking action on it,” Anna Grace Hottinger, a 16 year old sophomore who helped author the bill, told Earther.

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The Minnesota Green New Deal bill represents a much more dramatic step. Introduced by state Representative Frank Hornstein and Senator Scott Dibble along with 17 co-sponsors, the legislation follows the outlines of the Green New Deal resolution introduced at the federal level earlier this year.

The bill requires the state to run on 100 per cent carbon-free energy by 2030 and puts a moratorium on fossil fuel permitting. It also requires commissioners of various state agencies to come up with plans for decarbonisation of different sectors, including transportation and agriculture, as well as divesting the state’s pension system from fossil fuels.

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The bill is ripe with language on how the state can help facilitate a just transition to a clean energy economy, from jobs training to identifying any economic impact the shift could have on electricity rates.

“The Minnesota Green New Deal not only represents a bold agenda toward climate change, but also represents a new style of politics, one that values people over profits,” Tiger Worku, a junior from Minneapolis, said at the press conference announcing the bill on Wednesday

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