1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to higher education; appropriating money for a weather resilience program 
1.3 	in the University of Minnesota Extension Service.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. APPROPRIATION; UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION 
1.6 	SERVICE WEATHER RESILIENCE PROGRAM.
 1.7 	(a) $....... in fiscal year 2023 is appropriated from the general fund to the Board of Regents 
1.8 	of the University of Minnesota for a program in the University of Minnesota Extension 
1.9 	Service that will enhance the capacity of the state's farmers and communities to plan for 
1.10 	and adapt to meteorologic change. This is a onetime appropriation.
1.11 	(b) This appropriation may be used to support existing extension service staff members 
1.12 	and to hire additional staff members for a program with broad geographic reach throughout 
1.13 	the state to enhance the capacity of the state's agricultural sector, land and resource managers, 
1.14 	and communities to plan for and adapt to meteorologic change, including the increased 
1.15 	frequency of extreme weather events like droughts and flooding. The program shall:
1.16 	(1) identify, develop, implement, and evaluate educational programs that increase the 
1.17 	capacity of Minnesota's agricultural producers and communities to adapt and be resilient 
1.18 	to projected physical changes in temperature, precipitation, and other meteorologic parameters 
1.19 	that affect lands, horticulture, pests, and wildlife in ways that present challenges to the state's 
1.20 	agricultural sector and the communities that depend on it; and
1.21 	(2) communicate and interpret the latest research on critical meteorologic trends and the 
1.22 	science behind them to assist extension educators throughout the state to transfer to actors 
2.1 	at the local level the technical information on water resource management, agriculture and 
2.2 	forestry, engineering and infrastructure design, and individual and community health that 
2.3 	is necessary for the development of strategies to mitigate the effects of meteorologic change.