Rep. May is a strong leader in the Illinois legislature, and this bodes well for the USGBC. Rep. May joined the Illinois General Assembly in 2001, with a background as a business owner and work as a newspaper reporter and freelance writer. She currently serves on a number of committees tackling crucial environmental issues including: Environmental Health (Chair), Environment & Energy (member), and Renewable Energy (Chair). Rep. May also serves as Vice-Chair of the Health Care Availability and Accessibility Committee.
Of all the great work she has accomplished, one of Rep. May’s passions is the welfare of children in our schools. “As state lawmakers, we have a paramount responsibility to make sure that our children are educated in healthy school buildings. Students learn about saving our planet and have the very best learning environments. This is an area where we need to lead—not follow.” –Rep. Karen May, Illinois. And to this end, Rep. May took her issue to Washington and was one of the original six state legislators to launch the “50 for 50 Green Schools Caucus Initiative” program in 2008. The 11-member advisory council, which will include 7 state legislators, will work to establish program goals for the “50 for 50”, and work to elevate the role of state legislators as key supporters of green schools.
"Karen has been a key supporter of the USGBC and has worked closely with both the USGBC National and the Illinois Chapter. In addition to providing leadership and direction to the Springfield Advocacy training last April, we are currently collaborating with her on House Joint Resolution 45. HJR 45 creates a LEED Task Force chaired by the USGBC Illinois Chapter and is tasked with making recommendations to the Illinois General Assembly by November 1, 2010 on a prospective state program for greening existing schools and potential funding sources for such a program. We look forward to working with Representative May on this, and future initiatives and remain a resource she can rely upon," says Doug Widener, Executive Director of the USGBC-Illinois.
As Rep. May continues pushing for legislation putting Illinois on a path towards responsible and sustainable laws, the Legislative Update looks forward to bringing her efforts to your attention. For more information about green schools and the Initiative Rep. May launched on behalf of the Nation’s school children, please visit http://www.greenschoolbuildings.org/action/join/50_for_50.aspx. As always, more information on the legislation can be found at ilga.gov. Information on the Illinois EPA / Pollution Control Board rules is at www.ipcb.state.il.us, or contact Sean Ziadeh at seanziadeh@hotmail.com or by calling (248) 320-3208 for any other information.