I always read Tom Friedman’s op-ed columns. (I don’t think that surprises any of you.)

I didn’t know who Van Jones was until Delegate Nathaniel Oaks and I heard him speak at Morgan State University this past May.

Jones spoke about creating a green economy – to resolve our ecological crisis and provide jobs that lift people out of poverty.

In September, Friedman quoted Jones: “Let’s put people back to work – retrofitting and repowering America.”

Put another way: Making a house in West Baltimore energy efficient can’t be outsourced to Bangalore.

So Delegate Oaks and I will be introducing legislation to add green jobs to the job skills enhancement program in Maryland’s welfare reform statute.

That law already requires certain companies doing business with the State to give priority in hiring to qualified welfare recipients.

We’re going to propose extending that preference to contracts funded by the economic stimulus legislation now before the Congress.

“That language in the bill will begin a conversation with the Governor’s Office,” I told a group of environmental lobbyists.

I’m also researching if other states are considering this approach.