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In 2008, the Bike Edina Task Force organized a well -attended community bike ride with Mayor <br />James Hovland to encourage bicycling in Edina. <br />• A simple pathway for going green. Especially <br />for cities without large staffing, the program <br />can provide a simple guide for identifying and <br />implementing effective actions to increase <br />sustainablity. <br />In the 2008 legislative session, this concept was <br />formalized in state statute with the passage of Senate <br />File 3096 (as found in the Laws of Minnesota <br />2008, Chapter 356, Section 13), which requires <br />a report to the legislature by February 2, 2009, <br />with recommendations on program design. The <br />legislation refers to expanding an existing Green <br />Star award program, already existing in state <br />statute, which was created to encourage Minnesota <br />industries to comply with state and federal laws. <br />(We believe, for reasons explained later in this <br />report, that the program would be better referred <br />to as "GreenStep Cities,' and refer to it as such <br />throughout the rest of the report.) The legislation <br />requires that the program focus on actions that help <br />meet the state's greenhouse gas emissions reduction <br />goals (15% reduction by 2015; 30% by 2025; <br />80% by 2050). The report is to be prepared by the <br />Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and <br />the Minnesota Office of Energy Security (OES), in <br />collaboration with CERTs. The report is to include <br />recommendations for: <br />1) Criteria for actions to be included; <br />2) What entity/entities would issue the award; <br />3) Length of time the award could be displayed; <br />4) Existing state financial and technical assistance <br />available to cities; <br />5) Sources of funding needed to implement the <br />program; and <br />6) Other issues that need to be resolved in order to <br />implement the program. <br />This report addresses all of the issues raised by <br />the legislation (see Appendix A for the complete <br />legislative language). <br />Approach to program <br />development <br />In the spring o£2008 The Green Institute, <br />coordinator for the Twin Cities region of CERTs, <br />was awarded a grant from the MPCA to coordinate <br />development of the program recommendations in <br />partnership with other stakeholders. The project <br />was consciously organized as a broad, collaborative <br />public-private partnership. A workgroup was <br />formed to coordinate the project, and met over 15 <br />Minnesota GreenStep Cities Program Proposal 3 <br />