The Minnesota State Legislature convenes short session

The Minnesota legislative session began February 12, 2008 with many issues – the biggest of which is the budget shortfall. The deficit is due to slow economic growth and a further weakening of the housing sector, higher oil prices and a tighter credit standard (these trends are similar on a national basis). A structural shortfall is also expected for the 2010-2011 biennium.

Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group (MCCAG)

As part of the Next Generation Energy Act of 2007, Governor Pawlenty convened a stakeholder group representing a broad spectrum of interests to develop a comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Minnesota over the coming years. The Center for Climate Strategies (CCS) was asked to facilitate and provide technical assistance to the 56-member MCCAG. The MCCAG established a group of 55 proposals that covered six technical areas (Cap and Trade; Energy Supply; Residential, Commercial and Industrial; Agriculture, Forestry and Waste; Transportation and Land Use and Cross-Cutting). Within each technical area was created a working group whose job was to refine and elaborate on each proposal.

Based on this MCCAG process, a number of bills will likely be introduced in the 2008 session -- ranging from a regional cap and trade program to a green buildings proposal.

Community Based Energy Development (CBED)

Also included in the Next Generation Act of 2007 was a provision that created the CBED task force. The role of this task force is to make recommendations to the legislature on the definition of CBED, the project structure, compensation and any other related issue. The CBED concept has tremendous support from both the administration and legislators. There is great pressure to have CBED be successful. Look for bills to be introduced to help facilitate the creation of CBED projects.

Additional Energy Issues

Finally, a number of studies conducted by the Department of Commerce are also due to the legislature for review. There will be studies related to distributed generation, nuclear power, wind development property agreements and transmission and interconnection evaluations. Further, there may be bills related to eminent domain and compensation. The Attorney General also continues to target the investor-owned utilities with a Public Utilities Company Holding Act bill. All these issues mean another busy year for the energy sector.

Other Legislative Issues

In this short session, other issues that the legislature will focus on are health care, education, transportation and bonding – all of which are expected to be core issues in the election year. In the House of Representatives, all 134 House seats will be up for election in 2008.

Online Minnesota Legislative Resources

Online North Dakota Legislative Resources