Category: Public Policy

February 2, 2019: Week Three We are officially now three weeks into this long 2019 session and bill introductions, committee work sessions and public hearings, and citizen lobby days continue to consume the capitol. At this point, over 1600 bills have been introduced on an increasingly-wide range of issues, although it does appear that the […]

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January 25, 2019:  Week Two Week two has concluded and we are now 12 days in to this 105-day session. This was another busy week here in Olympia as freshman legislators vied to make themselves known in a sea of new faces, prospective 2020 leaders emerged, and a wave of progressive policy proposals continued to appear […]

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CleanTech day in Olympia 2019 was a huge success!   Thanks again to our sponsors, Boeing and Snohomish County PUD, and to all our attendees. We had a packed room with nearly a hundred advocates.  Governor Jay Inslee kicked off CleanTech Day by speaking to us about the role that cleantech innovators are playing in combating climate change.  We were also happy to hear the Governor emphasize the importance of the Clean Energy Fund, and the role it will have in driving a paradigm shift in innovation.  The Governor advocated a broad cleantech agenda including legislation that would provide for cleaner fuels. 

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January 19, 2019: Week 1 This Monday, January 14th, marked the start of the 2019 Legislative Session. As an odd-numbered year, this is both a budget writing session and a “long” 105-day session, barring any additional ‘special sessions’ afterwards. (The last several long sessions have gone into multiple special sessions over budgetary stalemates, however large […]

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By Alex Brown, The Daily Chronicle, January 18, 2019. While Gov. Jay Inslee has made climate change his signature issue in the lead-up to a potential Presidential campaign, state Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, believes the governor’s proposals shouldn’t be the only option on the table when it comes to clean energy. “I’ve always found that whenever you […]

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By John Schwartz, New York Times, Jan. 22, 2019. A record number of Americans understand that climate change is real, according to a new survey, and they are increasingly worried about its effects in their lives today. Some 73 percent of Americans polled late last year said that global warming was happening, the report found, a jump of […]

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By John Stang, Crosscut, Tuesday, January 15, 2019 Gov. Jay Inslee has carved himself a niche as “the climate guy.” And that persona dominated the governor’s State of the State speech to the Legislature on Tuesday. He told legislators that climate change is the biggest and most immediate threat to Washington. “In just the past […]

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By Manola Secaira, Crosscut, January 16, 2019 While Washington has a reputation as a greener-than-average state, voters have a history of giving less priority to the environment when it’s pitted against other issues like education and homelessness. From 2009 to 2018, no more than 7 percent of respondents in Elway polls chose “the environment” as a top priority […]

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Tuesday, January 8 Washington state’s diverse maritime sector establishes cluster organization, rallies around collaborative strategy to achieve decarbonization, global innovation hub, 21st Century workforce, growing working waterfronts. SEATTLE, Wash. – Gov. Jay Inslee today joined his Maritime Innovation Advisory Council and a host of leading voices for the roll out of Washington Maritime Blue, a […]

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Tuesday, January 8 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) selected $25 million in research projects for next-generation marine energy devices. Funded by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Water Power Technologies Office, these 12 innovative projects will reduce capital costs and accelerate the innovation cycle by testing new concepts. Marine energy […]

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