Climate Action in Washington State
Summary of and updates on climate and clean energy policy in Washington State
Climate Solutions is excited to support Referundum 52, which will appear on the Washington state ballot this November. Ref. 52 comes from the JOBS Act passed by the Legislature this April and will put people to work repairing schools across the state and making them more energy-efficient.
This measure is a win for jobs,
schools and the environment. It will create almost 30,000 new construction jobs,
provide our kids with a healthier learning environment, allow school districts
to save millions of dollars in energy savings all while reducing pollution. The
reductions in global warming pollution from this program is estimated to be
equal to taking 130,000 cars off the road every year!
This program is the clean energy economy at work - creating family-wage jobs, saving money and conserving energy. We hope you'll join us in supporting Ref. 52!
To find out more about Ref. 52 including how you can get involved in the campaign, contact Beth Doglio, beth@climatesolutions.org or visit healthyschoolsforwa.org
You can say this about the 2010 Washington legislative session: It’s over! After five years of steady progress, this was an up and down year of consolidating gains while teeing up new leadership initiatives. Your support and dedication enabled us to field a great team that held the line on our past wins and broke some important new ground. Thank you!
If you want to see how our priorities fared, read on!
We achieved our top priority this year: maintaining the strength of the Clean Energy Initiative, I-937. I-937 is the biggest step the state has taken to date to meet its global warming pollution limits and grow the clean energy economy. While working with other stakeholders to explore changes that would improve the initiative, Climate Solutions remains committed to ensuring its full implementation. 
The Legislature scored at the final buzzer by passing the Jobs Act of 2010, led by Rep. Hans Dunshee. Climate Solutions was proud to support this bill, which will bring a referendum to the voters to authorize the state to issue bonds for building upgrades and energy conservation retrofits in schools across the state. This program will create tens of thousands of jobs, putting people to work improving our schools and reducing energy waste. School districts will keep the money they realize in energy savings to further invest in our children’s education. You will hear more about this in the near future as Climate Solutions works with many others to win the Jobs Act on the November ballot.
Climate Solutions was happy to join with our partners at the NW Energy Coalition, Washington Environmental Council, Seattle Northwest Securities and the Laborers International Union among others to support the Energy Efficiency Financing Act. This bill would have broken down a key barrier to energy efficiency by allowing cities and counties to use bonding authority to provide loans for energy efficiency in our homes and businesses. We didn’t get it done this year, but we remain committed to unlocking the potential of energy efficiency with better financing tools.
Yays! Other important successes of the 2010 session included:
- upgrading our state’s greenhouse gas reporting standard, a key piece of the information infrastructure for strong climate policy,
- restoring funding for the state’s energy policy office and,
- maintaining important incentives for new wind projects in Washington.
Boos! Unfortunately, the Legislature missed the opportunity to adopt two good bread and butter clean energy policies: stronger energy efficiency standards for new televisions and updates to improve our Renewable Fuels Standard.
While there were some important wins and some disappointments this year, we would not have gotten nearly as far without the many phone calls and emails you made to legislators asking them to deliver climate solutions.
Thank you for all your work and all you continue to do to create our clean energy future.
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Some background on our efforts in Washington State:
In 2007, Climate Solutions played a key role in passing legislation that established statewide goals for reducing global warming pollution.
In 2008, Climate Solutions partnered with the Washington Environmental Council to pass the Climate Action and Green Jobs law. This bill made Washington the fourth state in the nation to adopt mandatory limits on global warming pollution. It also created the first statewide green jobs training program in the country.
Also in 2008, Washington became the chair of the Western Climate Initiative, or “WCI,” a partnership between seven Western states and four Canadian provinces to determine the best way to reduce global warming pollution.
In 2009, Climate Solutions worked to pass legislation that would have implemented the state’s global warming pollution goals and developed a program for Washington’s participation in the WCI. That legislation is being debated now, and current versions of the bill have been weakened substantially. We will continue to work to include provisions that will take meaningful action to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and help grow the clean energy economy
