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State Representative Tim Mahoney
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4277
For more information contact: Matt Swenson 651-297-8406
NEWS COLUMN
WORKING FOR A GREEN FUTURE
Minnesotans are enduring uncertain economic times. Our state is facing the highest unemployment rates and the worst recession we’ve seen in 25 years. Over the last 12 months Minnesota has lost nearly 20,000 jobs. Economic experts predict that number will increase to 50,000 by this time next year.
In the upcoming legislative session, we must take decisive action to put Minnesota’s economy back on track. Driving innovation in new and promising industries - such as green technology - is the state’s most promising avenue for rebuilding our economy and putting people back to work. By partnering with private business and academia, lawmakers can help grow tens of thousands of local, reliable, good-paying jobs for working Minnesotans.
Last biennium the Legislature began that important work - revamping our energy system to make our state’s economy more competitive and bring new jobs to Minnesota. Working with Governor Pawlenty, lawmakers passed the country’s foremost Renewable Energy Standard requiring 25 percent of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025. We enacted a new plan to reduce Minnesota’s greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, provided low-interest loans for community-based renewable energy projects, and partnered with state colleges and universities for research and development in renewable energy.
These new, nation-leading policies have given Minnesota a unique advantage in the renewable energy industry - an industry capable of creating the next generation of good-paying jobs for Minnesota’s workforce. That’s because fulfilling the renewable energy mandates will require the production of thousands of new wind turbines, manufactured solar power equipment, geothermal heat pumps, and the like. These are products that will fuel our state, nation, and world for years to come; products we can make, install, and maintain right here in Minnesota - but only if we act quickly to bring those businesses here and educate our workforce to fill those new positions.
But we can’t create new jobs and build up new industries by conducting business as usual. Relying on broken policies, fiscal gimmicks, and outdated programs won’t work any longer. Instead, Minnesota lawmakers have to broadly explore the best ways to strengthen the long-term economic competitiveness of our state. The legislatively created Green Jobs Task Force is developing a plan to ensure Minnesota can build on these opportunities to grow our state’s green economy. The Task Force will present its proposal to the Legislature January 15, 2009.
Education investment, research and design, job re-training, and strategic tax incentives are critical in our efforts to capitalize on emerging green job technologies and secure our economic future in Minnesota, and I anticipate they will be part of the Task Force’s recommendations. A narrow solution that simply relies on tax cuts isn’t enough to sustain a prosperous state economy for the long-term, such as the governor has proposed.
We need to act quickly and decisively in the upcoming legislative session, responding to the difficult financial and economic issues affecting all Minnesotans. I plan to work closely with my colleagues at the state and federal level to partner resources and share ideas to put our state in a position of strength moving forward. With a firm commitment to progress, we can harvest the good-paying green and high-tech jobs of tomorrow; and put Minnesota back on course for long-term economic prosperity.
News Items
- DFL Legislators Introduce the “Contraceptive Equity Act” - (Posted: 2012-03-07 00:00:00)
- DFL Jobs Initiatives to be Heard in House Jobs and Economic Development Committee - (Posted: 2012-02-29 00:00:00)
- REP. MAHONEY, DFL LEGISLATORS BUILD ON DFL JOBS PLAN WITH NEW INITIATIVES - (Posted: 2012-02-01 00:00:00)
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