A Good Jobs, Climate Change Law in Cascadia

Transportation is the state’s main source of air pollution, and Washington State’s new law sets goals for reducing driving.

Washington State acts to train green-collar workers

The Evergreen State lived up to its nickname earlier this year and formally committed itself to clean energy and good jobs with a landmark law formally linking the two ideas.

The Climate Action and Green Jobs Bill, passed by the Washington State Legislature, and signed in March by Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire, is the first law of its kind in the nation. The statute mandates overall limits on greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time funding worker training programs in clean energy industries.

The law requires Washington’s pollution levels to be below 1990 levels by 2020 and then half of that by 2050. Transportation is the state’s main source of pollution, and the law sets voluntary goals for reducing the total vehicle miles traveled each year.

The law also authorizes a labor market analysis of green jobs in demand, establishes an industry skills panel, and creates a fund to pay for training workers. Training will be handled largely by groups and institutions already providing these services, such as union apprenticeship programs and vocational and technical colleges. Special attention will be paid to recruiting as many women, minority, at-risk and low-income candidates as possible.

According to Patrick Neville, coordinator of the Washington State Apollo Alliance who played an important role in the statute’s passage, one of the best things about the bill is that it proves that any argument that pits jobs against the environment is false. “The bill will prepare people for good, family-wage jobs in non-polluting employment, while promoting sustainable use of our natural resources,” he said.

The story of how the law came to be holds lessons for other states seeking similar measures. On behalf of Apollo, Neville assembled an untraditional alliance of expertise from environmental organization, unions, and community groups. The group collaboratively drafted a single piece of model legislation linking a healthy environment to a hale economy with jobs that pay living wages. The drafting took just four months.

Members of the King County Labor Council, environmental groups Climate Solutions and Green For All, anti-poverty group Solid Ground, and The Workforce Alliance all convened under the Apollo umbrella and around the common goal to set about writing a proposal that took in all their concerns.

“It’s the only way we could have done this,” said Jessica Coven, a policy associate for Climate Solutions who worked on the bill. “You can get a political victory by writing a bill and then shopping it around, but to really create a movement you need to build something together. We all had a stake in this.”

Indeed, now the entire state of Washington has a stake in it.

Cassandra Stern, a former reporter for The Washington Post, is a contributor to the Apollo Alliance.

For More Information:

Links:

Climate Action and Green Jobs Bill: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=2815&year=2007

King County Labor Council: http://www.kclc.org/

Patrick Neville
Email: pneville@wc-kclc.org

Climate Solutions
Phone: 206-443-9570
Web site: http://www.climatesolutions.org/

Jessica Coven
Email: jessica@climatesolutions.org

Solid Ground: http://www.solid-ground.org/Pages/Default.aspx

Green for All: http://www.greenforall.org/

The Workforce Alliance: http://www.workforcealliance.org/site/c.ciJNK1PJJtH/b.995605/k.CBB4/Home.htm