Phyllis Kahn
Encyclopedia
Phyllis Kahn is a retired professor of Biophysics
and a DFL
member of the Minnesota House of Representatives
, serving District 59B, which includes portions of the city of Minneapolis
in Hennepin County
, which is in the Twin Cities
metropolitan area. Educated at Cornell
(B.A.
in Physics
), Yale
(Ph.D.
in Biophysics
), and Harvard
(M.P.A.) Universities, she has been a long-time advocate for education
, health care
and medical technology
, agriculture
and the natural environment
, and human rights
, particularly for senior citizens and women.
Kahn was first elected to represent her area of Minneapolis in 1972 and has continuously served since that time, most recently winning re-election in 2010. She serves as the DFL-Lead (ranking minority member) of the State Government Finance Committee, and serves on the Veterans Services Division, and the Ways and Means committee.
In 2004, Kahn was charged with theft for removal of Republican
campaign literature from doorsteps of several houses. However, the charges were dropped when she agreed to pay a $200 fine.
Kahn has been a leading opponent of efforts by DeLaSalle High School (Minneapolis)
to construct an athletic field on its campus in her neighborhood on Nicollet Island
. She has been an outspoken critic of the field plan and has stated her views vehemently and frequently at public hearings. Ultimately, the school was allowed to build the field.
Kahn has a reputation for advocating positions not taken by many others. She was the chief author and advocate of the 1975 Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act; one of the first laws enacted anywhere in the world banning the smoking of tobacco in public places. This law has been used as a template for virtually all later legislation to protect the public from "second hand smoke," and was updated and expanded in 2005. In 1989, she proposed reducing the voting age
in Minnesota to 12 years. She said "history has shown us that when a segment of society is denied the right to vote, all the rights of that segment of society are then inferior."
Kahn has also repeatedly advocated for repeal of so-called "Blue Laws," which forbid liquor stores from operating on Sundays and some holidays.
Biophysics
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems...
and a DFL
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
member of the Minnesota House of Representatives
Minnesota House of Representatives
The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house in the Minnesota State Legislature. There are 134 members elected to two-year terms, twice the number of members in the Minnesota Senate. Each senate district is divided in half and given the suffix A or B...
, serving District 59B, which includes portions of the city of Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
in Hennepin County
Hennepin County, Minnesota
Hennepin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. As of 2010 the population was 1,152,425. Its county seat is Minneapolis. It is by far the most populous county in Minnesota; more than one in five Minnesotans live...
, which is in the Twin Cities
Twin cities
Twin cities are a special case of two cities or urban centres which are founded in close geographic proximity and then grow into each other over time...
metropolitan area. Educated at Cornell
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
(B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
), Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Biophysics
Biophysics
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems...
), and Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(M.P.A.) Universities, she has been a long-time advocate for education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
and medical technology
Medical technology
Medical Technology encompasses a wide range of healthcare products and is used to diagnose, monitor or treat diseases or medical conditions affecting humans. Such technologies are intended to improve the quality of healthcare delivered through earlier diagnosis, less invasive treatment options and...
, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and the natural environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
, and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, particularly for senior citizens and women.
Kahn was first elected to represent her area of Minneapolis in 1972 and has continuously served since that time, most recently winning re-election in 2010. She serves as the DFL-Lead (ranking minority member) of the State Government Finance Committee, and serves on the Veterans Services Division, and the Ways and Means committee.
In 2004, Kahn was charged with theft for removal of Republican
Republican Party of Minnesota
The Republican Party of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch of the United States Republican Party. Elected by the party’s state central committee in June 2009, its chairman is Tony Sutton, and its deputy-chairman is Michael Brodkorb.-Early history:...
campaign literature from doorsteps of several houses. However, the charges were dropped when she agreed to pay a $200 fine.
Kahn has been a leading opponent of efforts by DeLaSalle High School (Minneapolis)
DeLaSalle High School (Minneapolis)
DeLaSalle High School is a Catholic, college preparatory high school located for its entire 111-year history on Nicollet Island, adjacent to downtown Minneapolis, USA. Then-Archbishop John Ireland helped raise money to build the new Catholic secondary school in Minneapolis. Only a few months...
to construct an athletic field on its campus in her neighborhood on Nicollet Island
Nicollet Island
Nicollet Island is an island in the Mississippi River just north of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, named for cartographer, Joseph Nicollet. DeLaSalle High School and the Nicollet Island Inn are located there, as well as three multi-family residential buildings and twenty-two restored...
. She has been an outspoken critic of the field plan and has stated her views vehemently and frequently at public hearings. Ultimately, the school was allowed to build the field.
Kahn has a reputation for advocating positions not taken by many others. She was the chief author and advocate of the 1975 Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act; one of the first laws enacted anywhere in the world banning the smoking of tobacco in public places. This law has been used as a template for virtually all later legislation to protect the public from "second hand smoke," and was updated and expanded in 2005. In 1989, she proposed reducing the voting age
Voting age
A voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain to be eligible to vote in a public election.The vast majority of countries in the world have established a voting age. Most governments consider that those of any age lower than the chosen threshold lack the necessary...
in Minnesota to 12 years. She said "history has shown us that when a segment of society is denied the right to vote, all the rights of that segment of society are then inferior."
Kahn has also repeatedly advocated for repeal of so-called "Blue Laws," which forbid liquor stores from operating on Sundays and some holidays.