2006 Washington Initiative 937
| Elections in Washington |
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Ballot Initiative 937 (official name Initiative measure no. 937, known as I-937) was a successful clean energy initiative in the US state of Washington, appearing on the ballot in the November 2006 elections. It passed with 52 percent of the vote [1].
Content of the proposal
The initiative proposes to require large utilities to obtain 15% of their electricity from new renewable resources such as solar and wind but excluding hydro by 2020 with incremental steps of 3% by 2012 and 9% by 2016 along with undertaking cost-effective energy conservation.[1]
Precedents
Similar legislation was enacted in at least 20 other states including the following. (The table is sorted by date and then by descending percentage. I-937 is included in bold for easy comparison.)
| State | Name | Enacted | Percentage | By | Comments/Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | 30% | 2000 | |||
| Arizona | 1.1% | 2007 | |||
| Massachusetts | 4% | 2009 | |||
| Connecticut | 10% | 2010 | |||
| Iowa | ~10% | 2010 | |||
| New Mexico | 10% | 2011 | |||
| New York | 24% | 2013 | |||
| Nevada | 20% | 2015 | |||
| Minnesota | 19% | 2015 | |||
| Montana | 15% | 2015 | |||
| Colorado | Amendment 37 | 2004 | 10% | 2015 | First ballot initiative[2] |
| Texas | ~4.2% | 2015 | 5.88 GW | ||
| California | 20% | 2017 | |||
| Rhode Island | 16% | 2019 | |||
| Delaware | 10% | 2019 | |||
| Maryland | 7.5% | 2019 | |||
| New Jersey | 22.5% | 2020 | |||
| Hawaii | 20% | 2020 | |||
| Washington | I-937 | 15% | 2020 | ||
| Washington, D.C. | 11% | 2022 | |||
| Pennsylvania | 8% | 2020 |
Unless indicated otherwise, data are from [3]
Supporters
Supporters included the following:[4]
Elected officials
- U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray
- U.S. Congressmen Jay Inslee, Adam Smith, Norm Dicks and Jim McDermott
- State Senators Luke Esser (R), Dave Schmidt (R), Debbie Regala (D), Bill Finkbeiner (R), Erik Poulsen (D), Karen Fraser (D), Craig Pridemore (D), Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D), Karen Keiser (D)
- State Representatives Toby Nixon (R), Zach Hudgins (D), Brian J. Sullivan (D), Fred Jarrett (R), Pat Sullivan (D), Geoff Simpson (D), Rodney Tom (D), Dave Upthegrove (D), Brendan Williams (D)
- King County Executive Ron Sims
- Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
Civic and political organizations
- League of Women Voters
- Kittitas Valley League of Women voters
- Washington State Democrats
- King County Young Democrats
- Republicans for Environmental Protection, Washington Chapter
- Green Party of Washington State
- Peace Action for Washington
Health organizations
Energy and labor
- Washington Public Utility Districts Association
- Washington State Labor Council
- United Steelworkers
- SEIU Washington State Council
- Apollo Alliance
- Blue-Green Alliance
Environmental
- Denis Hayes, Founder of Earth Day
- Audubon Society Washington
- The Mountaineers
- Sierra Club - Cascade Chapter
- Washington Conservation Voters
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- National Wildlife Federation
Faith
- Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington
- Washington Association of Churches
- Church Council of Greater Seattle
Newspapers
Opponents
Opponents included many small co-op electrical providers (even though the initiative affects only utilities with greater than 25,000 customers) as well as the following:[5]
- Big Bend Electrical Cooperative
- Boeing
- Boise Cascade
- Chamber of Commerces: Bellevue, Greater Seattle, Kelso-Longview, Pasco, Spokane Regional, Tacoma-Pierce County, Wenatchee Valley, West Richland Area
- Modern Electric Water Company
- National Association of Manufacturers
- Peninsula Light Company
- PUDs of Benton, Cowlitz, Franklin, Lewis, and Mason County.
- Representatives Brian Blake (D) and Dean Takko
- Senators Jean Berkey (D) and Mark L. Doumit (D)
- Snohomish County PUD commissioner Kathy Vaughn
- Tanner Electric Cooperative
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Washington Farm Bureau
- Washington Rurual Electric Cooperative Association
- Weyerhaeuser