Initiative 937

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 [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/default.aspx/id/15652935/] .

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 by 2020 and undertake cost-effective energy conservation. [ [http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/text/i937.pdf Full text of Ballot Initiative 937] (.pdf)]

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 [ [http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/clean_energy_policies/the-colorado-renewable-energy-standard-ballot-initiative.html The Colorado Renewable Energy Standard Ballot Initiative ] ]
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 [ [http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/clean_energy_policies/state-clean-energy-maps-and-graphs.html State Clean Energy Maps and Graphs ] ]

upporters

Supporters included the following: [http://www.yeson937.org/content.jsp?content_KEY=1977]

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

* American Lung Association
* American Cancer Society
* Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility

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

* The "Seattle P-I"
* "The Olympian"
* The "Tacoma News Tribune"
* "The Stranger"

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: [http://www.nooni937.com/Endorsements.html]

* [http://www.bbec.org/home.html| 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
* [http://www.mewco.com| Modern Electric Water Company]
* National Association of Manufacturers
* [http://www.penlight.org| 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
* [http://tannerelectric.coop/site/index.php| Tanner Electric Cooperative]
* U.S. Chamber of Commerce
* Washington Farm Bureau
* [http://www.wreca.coop| Washington Rurual Electric Cooperative Association]
* Weyerhaeuser

References

External links

* [http://www.nooni937.com/ No on I-937]
* [http://cted.wa.gov/_CTED/documents/ID_2521_Publications.doc Washington’s Primary Energy Consumption by Source] (.doc)