Bills Authored - Kahn Legislation Now Law and Proposed Law

Laws Relating to the Environment

• Nuclear Safety Preparedness Act
• Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Act
• Increased funding for wildlife, park and recreation facilities
• Moratorium on the construction of certain freeways, including I-335
• Regulations on genetically engineered organisms
• Required frequent testing of mercury and other hazardous material emissions from incinerators, regulating shutdown and repair of facilities with emissions above approved permit levels
• Funding of the Great River road on the West Bank, including bicycle and pedestrian paths, from the University campus past downtown Minneapolis
• Funding to improve water quality and to separate Minneapolis and St. Paul sewer systems, keeping raw sewage from flowing into the Mississippi River
• Maintenance and expansion of community and urban forests
• Location and Construction of U of M hazardous waste facility
• Establishment of Mississippi River Urban Whitewater Trail for rafters, canoers and kayakers
• Facilitation of legalization of industrial hemp as a Minnesota crop
• Standards for control of outdoor light pollution for state funded projects. (An energy conservation issue - 2008)

Laws Relating to Women's Rights

• Funding for battered women's shelters
• Establishment of the Commission on the Economic Status of Women
• Funding for displaced homemakers program
• Rape Victims assistance program, and laws to facilitate prosecution of sex offenders and to protect the rights of rape victims in court
• Women's equality laws including the right of a woman to keep her own name after marriage
• Gender equity in funding and treatment for athletics
• Women's Suffrage Memorial Garden

Laws Relating to Economic Security and Government Reform

• Computer crime and computer virus law
• Prohibition of discrimination based on age in employment and education
• Prohibition of discrimination against the disabled and handicapped
• Funding for training and education to further employment of at-risk targeted youth
• Public pension fund investment oversight
• Increased stability of funding for Minneapolis Employees Retirement Fund (MERF) and Minneapolis Teachers Retirement Association (MTRA)
• Commercial validity and security of electronic signatures and messages
• Electronic versions of guidebook and state register available on Internet
• Establishment of a conservation building code for renewal of older buildings
• Genetic testing prohibition as a condition for employment
• Access to DNA testing for convicted persons
• Legislation to allow a mother to use a state childcare grant to stay at home with a new baby for one year
• Study of privacy laws related to genetic testing

Laws Relating to Quality of Life

• Increased public support for the arts, including dedicating 1% of the costs of new state buildings to purchase art
• Prohibition of corporal punishment in the schools
• Grant-in-aid program for historic preservation in the St. Anthony Falls historic district
• State grant for construction of visitor center at St. Anthony Falls
• Established the position of State Poet Laureate - Robert Bly was appointed as the State's first. (2007)

Laws Relating to State Infrastructure

• 35W bridge survivor legislation.
• Legislation sending an appropriation for $741,000 to the Minneapolis Park Board for the replacement of park land taken over by the Department of Transportation for the new 35W bridge construction. This must be used to obtain other land along the Mississippi River.