And they’re off! Noon Monday marked the official start of the 2014 Washington State legislative session. Last year’s session stretched into a marathon, in which it took no fewer than three special sessions for lawmakers to hammer out a budget deal that included some great investments in clean energy. While this year’s session is scheduled to last just 60 days, legislators are grappling with just as weighty topics.

Climate Solutions will be represented in Olympia, working to promote the clean energy economy and efforts to reduce global warming pollution. This year, that means:

• Closing the Big Oil Loophole – Oil companies, some of the most profitable corporations in the world, benefit from an accidental loophole that obliges taxpayers to hand over to them $41 million dollars every two years. Let’s stop subsidizing our biggest polluters and instead put that money towards education and other priorities!
• Maintaining I-937 – Even though I-937 is our most successful clean energy law, each year some legislators try to weaken it - there were 17 failed attempts to do so last year alone. However, thanks to I-937, billions of dollars have been invested in clean energy and energy efficiency here in Washington. Let’s move forward, not backwards, towards our clean energy future.
• Hearing from you – is there something that you are working on or want to talk to us about? Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Now that this year’s legislative session has started, things can move pretty quickly as bills move from committee to committee amidst a myriad of hearings and testimony. To make sure your voice is heard at every crucial juncture, sign up for our Action Alerts and check back here for the latest updates.

In his State of the State speech on Tuesday, Governor Inslee reiterated his strong position on tackling climate change: “I am committed to a set of actions to secure the additional carbon pollution reductions by the required dates. Rest assured, we will move forward. Going backward is not an option. Inaction is not an option.” Together with your help, we can make good on the Governor’s commitment to build a clean energy future for Washington.