What do a sprint, a time warp, a whirlwind, and a pressure cooker have in common? They are all frequently used metaphors for Washington’s short, 60-day legislative session.

There is always a lot to get done in a short amount of time, but the metaphors for this session don’t adequately capture how extreme this year felt. 

Policymakers faced a budget crisis, severely exacerbated by federal funding cuts, which led to painful decisions around childcare and healthcare programs. Legislators reacted to federal immigration enforcement raids with several bills making it to the Governor’s desk. And during the last week of session, the House spent a record-breaking 25 hours straight debating, then passing, the tax on millionaires.

In chaotic times like these, efforts to tackle the climate crisis and expand access to clean, affordable energy often fall to the wayside. Ironically, continually kicking the can on climate action creates an affordability crunch, harms our health, and causes more emergencies. This year the WA Legislature tried to achieve a difficult balance in continuing to push climate action forward, while also responding to crises. 

The results? A mixed bag. The Legislature diverted climate dollars from their best uses, but simultaneously passed significant policies that will cut pollution and help set us up for a more sustainable future. Read on for more!

The budget

We faced an uphill battle ensuring that Climate Commitment Act (CCA) funds would be spent on programs that cut climate pollution, boost affordability, and are ready to benefit people across the state. Unfortunately, the Legislature followed in the footsteps of the Governor’s proposed budget, taking over $540 million in CCA to fill budget holes. Moving forward, the Legislature must be more deliberate and strategic with these dollars to maintain voters’ trust.

Building the clean energy system we need

We need to build and move more clean energy but we’re not yet doing so at the scale we need. Washington, shockingly, ranks last in renewable energy development. One of the reasons why is a lack of transmission lines, which move electricity in bulk. The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) oversees much of this system, but has only approved one application from the 469 large renewable projects that have wanted to connect to their grid since 2015. This year, Washington decided to take its future into its own hands and, after repeated efforts, the Legislature stepped up and established a state transmission authority (SB 6355) that will fill key gaps in our grid. 

We have more work to do to make it easier to upgrade existing transmission lines as well as building the clean energy we need, but this is a significant step forward.

Protecting and strengthening our climate laws

The CCA and the Clean Energy Transformation Act (100% clean electricity, or CETA) are delivering results, but over time we have discovered loopholes that allow extra pollution and cost the state millions in revenue. The Legislature passed a suite of policies that will close loopholes, cut pollution, and gather needed information:

• SB 5982 closes a loophole to ensure that all electricity generators comply with CETA, including port district utilities and utilities with one customer. This ensures fair treatment and compliance with our climate laws.
• HB 2215 adjusts the compliance threshold for fuel suppliers under the CCA to ensure pollution is covered under the program as intended. After the passage of the CCA, certain fuel importers/suppliers began spinning off LLCs to come in under the compliance threshold and this bill will make it much harder to do so. 
• SB 6246 establishes a reporting and planning framework for emissions-intensive, trade-exposed facilities (EITEs) to support decarbonization in line with our climate pollution limits. It also requires the Department of Ecology to develop a report that will support the Legislature in determining an updated compliance pathway under the Climate Commitment Act for EITEs. 
• HB 2367 clarifies that the TransAlta coal plant, which the federal government illegally ordered to remain in operation beyond its planned closure at the end of 2025, must comply with our state climate laws and not receive tax incentives.

And there’s more!

Climate Solutions has been supportive of allowing direct sales by electric vehicle manufacturers to customers, which could boost EV adoption by as much as 13%. Until now, only Tesla had been able to do so in Washington. The Legislature passed SB 6354, which expands direct sales to include Rivian and Lucid, a big step forward in making EVs more accessible in Washington.

We worked with the Environmental Priorities Coalition on HB 2515, which would hold data centers to a higher standard, requiring transparency on their energy and water use and ensuring that their energy infrastructure costs are not passed on to folks living nearby. Unfortunately, big tech stepped in and this ambitious bill did not make it across the finish line.

Whew. Sound like a lot? All of this happened in 60 days against a very uncertain landscape. The Legislature rose to the challenge in some areas, but we have more work to do to hold them accountable to spending CCA dollars well and repaying what was used to plug budget holes. 

So, what’s the right metaphor to more accurately describe this session? I’m still too tired to think of one less than a week after sine dine, the last day!