Frank Hornstein

Frank Hornstein (born September 27, 1959) is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2003. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Hornstein represents District 61A, which includes parts of the city of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Early life, education and career
Hornstein was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1959 to parents of Hungarian and Polish descent who survived the Holocaust in Germany. His grandmother died in the Auchwitz concentration camp.

Hornstein received his bachelor's degree in environmental studies from Macalester College. He earned a master's in urban and environmental policy from Tufts University, and attended graduate school at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute.

Hornstein worked as a community organizer for COACT, a grassroots citizens' action group, Clean Water Action, and as a volunteer on Paul Wellstone's 1982 campaign for state auditor. He was appointed to the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council by Governor Jesse Ventura in 2000, serving until his election to the legislature. He has taught at Augsburg University.

Minnesota House of Representatives
Hornstein was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2002 and has been reelected every two years since. After 2012 legislative redistricting, he was put into the same district as fellow legislator Marion Greene and both sought the DFL endorsement. At the convention, Greene conceded to Hornstein, who later endorsed her when she ran for Hennepin County Commissioner. In 2013, he endorsed city-council member Betsy Hodges in the Minneapolis mayoral election. Hornstein supported Bernie Sanders during the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primary and was a delegate for Sanders. He later endorsed Hillary Clinton after Sanders did the same.

Hornstein has chaired the Transportation Finance and Policy Committee since 2019. He also sits on the Climate and Energy Finance and Policy, Sustainable Infrastructure Policy, and Ways and Means Committees. Hornstein chaired the Transportation and Transit Policy Committee from 2007 to 2010 and the Transportation Finance Committee from 2013 to 2014.

Transportation
As transportation chair, Hornstein has advocated for increasing transit funding for rapid bus lines, increasing passenger rail services between the Twin Cities and St. Cloud, Duluth, and Chicago, transportation services for the disabled, and increased funding for roads and bridges. He has said that the state needs to look at transportation "through an equity lens, a racial justice lens... and through a climate lens".

Hornstein has long supported issuing driver's licenses regardless of immigration status. He has supported increasing the state gas tax and the sales tax in the Twin Cities to pay for transit improvements. He has pushed for stricter speed limits on city streets to protect pedestrians and bicyclers, increasing the use of electric buses, and reducing the number of drivers on roads. He has authored legislation to leverage federal infrastructure dollars for projects in Minnesota.

Distracted driving legislation
Hornstein has authored legislation that made it illegal to text while driving, and bills to raise fines for drivers repeatedly caught texting and driving. He also authored bills to make it illegal to use a cellphone while driving without a hands-free device, which faced opposition from House Republicans. At the time, distracted driving was the cause of 25 percent of crashes and 20 percent of motor vehicle fatalities. The bill was reintroduced under DFL control, passed the House with bipartisan support, and was signed by Governor Tim Walz in April 2018.

Railroad regulation
Hornstein has advocated for greater regulation of railroads, especially oil trains, and authored amendments and bills requiring companies to share the cost of rail line upgrades. He has opposed legislation to absolve companies of liability in case of accidents, pushed for a law requiring a study of the industry, and later authored bipartisan legislation to fix the issues found. He has supported guidance from the National Transportation Safety Board that recommends hazardous oil cargo be routed away from population centers, and criticized the Trump administration for rolling back regulations.

Light rail and bus rapid transit
Hornstein, who regularly uses the Twin Cities light rail system, has opposed cuts to the system, and supported legislation to change fare-dodging from a criminal to a civil penalty. He has raised concern over running freight trains through light-rail corridors. He has supported increasing bus-rapid-transit projects, including the Orange Line, which would run from downtown Minneapolis to Burnsville.

Metropolitan Council
Hornstein has supported reforms to the Metropolitan Council, a regional governmental agency and metropolitan planning organization, including instituting direct elections for members instead of gubernatorial appointment. He has criticized the council for lacking transparency, public input, and adequate environmental reviews, for cost overruns, and for its handling of the Southwest Light Rail project; he supported audits of the council's performance and legislation to transfer the project to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Other policy positions
Hornstein has opposed privatization of government services and growing corporate money influence in politics. He has introduced legislation to raise the minimum wage in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, and supports a $15 an hour minimum wage. He opposed state funding for sports stadiums. He supported legislation that would ban the sale of semi-automatic assault rifles.

Hornstein criticized the Trump administration's attempts to end the DACA program for young immigrants. He visited the Texas border in 2018 and spoke out against the administration's family separation policy. Hornstein was part of a bipartisan delegation to Cuba in 2015, and said that he supported future economic ties with the country. In 2009, he led a bipartisan delegation to Israel, and traveled to Germany to explore green energy and jobs policy.

Hate crime legislation
Hornstein has spoken out against increasing hate crimes against Jewish, Muslim, Asian, and LGBTQ Americans, and authored legislation that would require the Attorney General's office to review hate-crime laws. The legislation failed to advance in the Republican-controlled Senate. He also authored legislation requiring increased training for police in dealing with bias-motivated crimes, and allowing community groups to file hate crime reports. He authored legislation to require Holocaust and genocide education in middle and high school education. In 2007, he spoke out on the House floor against legislators who likened a smoking ban to Nazism and criticized gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen for likening COVID-19 public health measures to Nazi Germany.

Climate and the environment
Hornstein authored legislation in the House likened to the Green New Deal. He has supported legislation to set 100 percent renewable energy goals in the state, and bills to increase recycling goals in the metro area. Hornstein has called for oil refineries to stop using hydrogen fluoride, calling it unsafe, and criticized the Enbridge Line 4 pipeline. He attended the 2021 United Nations Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

Personal life
Hornstein, who is Jewish, is married to Marcia Zimmerman, chief rabbi at Temple Israel in Minneapolis.