ST. PAUL — Lawmakers in Minnesota honored former House Speaker Melissa Hortman on Tuesday, March 3, with a bill proposing to name the state's solar energy program after her.
Rep. Patty Acomb, DFL-Minnetonka, sponsored HF3556 to memorialize Hortman for legislation the former speaker authored in 2013 that created Minnesota’s community solar garden program.
Acomb presented the bill to the House Energy Committee, which Hortman chaired during the 2013-14 legislative session. It was one of her favorite roles in her time as a legislator, Acomb said.
Back then, Hortman, a DFLer, implemented a solar energy standard that enforced the adoption of renewable energy by public utilities and accelerated the solar industry in Minnesota. Her bill also created the community solar garden program that expanded public access to solar energy.
Community solar gardens allow people to get their electricity from solar panels without having to install or purchase the panels themselves. People who subscribe to the community effort lock in electricity rates over a period of time.
The community solar garden program created by Hortman’s legislation was the first in the country. The program had bipartisan support and became a national model for more than a dozen other states.
Acomb’s bill would rename the solar garden initiative the Melissa Hortman Community Garden Program. Eleven supporters testified in favor of the bill at the committee hearing.
“I will say that, arguably, Melissa Hortman was the most consequential speaker in the Minnesota House history,” Acomb said.
On June 14, 2025, Vance Boelter, in what authorities believed to be a political assassination, is accused of shooting and killing Hortman and her husband Mark in their Brooklyn Park home. Boelter is also accused of shooting state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette at their home the same morning. The Hoffmans survived the attack.
Because of Hortman’s initiatives, Minnesota-based companies were able to take charge of the state’s solar industry, creating thousands of jobs and stimulating the state’s economy, said Erica Forsman, chief commercial officer for US Solar.
Mandates requiring investor-owned public utilities like Xcel Energy to source at least 1.5% of sales from solar power by 2020 and 10% by 2030 expedited the state’s ongoing transition to clean energy.
When state solar legislation was revised in 2023, Hortman worked to compel public utilities to reach 100% carbon-free energy in Minnesota by 2040.
The revisions also focused on accessibility of solar energy to low- and moderate-income households.
Numbers now show that about 70% of solar capacity powers the homes of low- and moderate-income households, resulting in over 12% savings on energy bills, said Pete Wyckoff, deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
Legislators from both parties showed their support for Hortman through Acomb’s bill as well as by wearing green ribbons pinned to their lapels.
Rep. Dave Baker, R-Willmar, acknowledged that he initially didn’t support Hortman’s community solar gardens because they were an expensive and bold undertaking. Despite their occasionally differing views, Baker said he came to see her strength and impact as a legislator.
“She kicked my butt,” Baker said. “She really taught me how to be a better legislator.”
The committee unanimously approved the bill and sent it to the House floor.
“She said she had a lot of work to do, and I think it’s up to us to continue that work,” said Rep. Larry Kraft, DFL-Saint Louis Park.
Report for Minnesota is a project of the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication to support local news across the state.
