Neighbors,
This has been a big week for us at the Legislature. We voted on, and passed, our first bill on the house floor. We also created the first ever United Black Legislative Caucus. While many Minnesotans face barriers to success, we’re working to improve outcomes for all Minnesotans, regardless of race, gender, and economic status.
 
Town Hall
Mark your calendar: I will be holding a town hall with Rep. Aisha Gomez and Sen. Jeff Hayden on Tuesday, February 19 at the Sabathani Community Center. The details are below.
 
What: Town Hall with Rep. Hodan Hassan, Rep. Aisha Gomez and Sen. Jeff Hayden
When: Tuesday, Feb 19 from 6 – 8PM
Where: Sabathani Community Center, 310 East 38^th Street, Minneapolis MN
RSVP: Sonia Romero at Sonia.romero@house.mn
 
Equity 
Minnesota has some of the worst disparities between black and white citizens for unemployment, income, incarceration and homeownership. We can, and we must work harder to create a more equitable state for Minnesotans. I’m excited to tell you about the first bill this session that passed through a floor vote.

This bill seeks to address the racist housing history in Minnesota. If the bill passes, it will allow homeowners to formally denounce restrictive home title rules that have been used to prevent minority communities from moving into residential neighborhoods. These “restrictive covenants” were legal until 1948, but the language still exists on many houses. The bill would allow homeowners to attach a formal document to their home title repudiating the racist language, but it would not remove the language from the title in order to allow for future research on the impacts of racist housing policies.

Checkout the Star Tribune’s coverage of the topic here.
 
This, along with many other issues, will be taken up and advocated for by the new United Black Legislative Caucus. We held a press conference yesterday to announce that we will work together to address Minnesota’s achievement gaps. This is the first time in history that Minnesota has had six black legislators, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in both the House and the Senate to set an example for the next generation of leaders. This is not just about us, it’s about giving Minnesota’s black children a picture of leadership that looks like them.
 
You can see the Pioneer Press coverage of our press conference here, and MPR’s coverage here. 

Renewable Energy
On Tuesday we took an important step toward environmental justice. HF 700 was heard for the first time, and it is starting to move through committees. If passed, it would increase the proportion of energy that must come from renewable sources and set target dates for when these goals need to be achieved by power companies. Minnesota is blessed with many renewable resources, and investing in them would create jobs and slow down climate change.
 
The Star Tribune wrote an article with visuals of how policy changes such as these would help to save our forests. Read it here. You can read more about our environmental initiatives here.
 
As always, if you want to discuss something, don’t hesitate to reach me by email at rep.hodan.hassan@house.mn and phone at 651-296-0294. You can also get updates from my official Facebook page here.

Sincerely,
Hodan Hassan