As the summer heats up and the thermometer rises, I thought it would be the perfect time to talk about how Democratic state legislators have stepped up to tackle a problem that – only a few years back – would not have been considered a state legislative issue.

States started to seriously address climate change in 2006 in California. In that year, the Democratic legislature passed the “California Global Warming Solutions Act,” sponsored by Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (a DLCC board member). Assembly Bill 32 passed the Assembly on August 31, 2006 on a 47-32 vote. It then passed the Senate on August 30, 2006 on a 23-14 vote and was approved by the governor on September 27, 2006. The bill requires that, by 2020, California’s greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced to 1990s levels.

California’s landmark legislation in 2006 led to a number of successes nationwide in 2007.

Just a year after California’s success, the Democratically controlled Washington legislature passed Senate Bill 6001. This bill, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Craig Pridemore, establishes the following goals: by 2020, reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions in the state to 1990 levels; by 2035, reduce overall GHG emissions in the state to 25 percent below 1990 levels; and by 2050, the state will do its part to reach global climate stabilization levels by reducing overall emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels, or 70 percent below the state's expected emissions that year. The governor signed the bill on May 3, 2007.

That same year, the Democratically-controlled Oregon legislature passed HB 3543. The goals of Oregon’s bill are to achieve the following reductions in greenhouse gas emissions: by 2010, arrest the growth of Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions and begin to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; by 2020, achieve greenhouse gas levels that are 10 percent below 1990 levels; and, by 2050, achieve greenhouse gas levels that are at least 75 percent below 1990 levels. The governor signed the bill on August 7, 2007.

The Iowa Democratic legislature passed Senate File 485 in 2007. SF 485 addresses power-plant greenhouse gas emissions by creating a greenhouse gas inventory to collect data on greenhouse gas production; by creating a greenhouse gas registry for tracking, and by creating the Iowa Climate Change Advisory Council to analyze the possibility of reducing emissions by 50 percent by 2050. On April 23, 2007, SF 485 passed the Senate 30-19, and, on April 18, 2007, the bill passed the House 66-32. On April 27, 2007, SF 485 was signed by the governor.

In 2007, the Democratically-controlled legislature in Minnesota passed Senate File 145, the “Next Generation Energy Act of 2007 and Omnibus Energy Policy Bill.” This bill -- sponsored by Democratic Rep. Bill Hilty and Democratic Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon -- contains the Global Warming Mitigation Act of 2007. The goal of this bill is to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors producing those emissions to a level at least 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2015, to a level at least 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, and to a level at least 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. The governor approved the bill on May 25, 2007.

Also in 2007, the Democratically controlled New Jersey legislature passed Assembly Bill 3301. The bills sponsors include Democratic Assemblypersons Linda Stender, Valerie Vainieri Huttle, Reed Gusciora, Linda R. Greenstein, and John F. McKeon and Democratic Sens. Barbara Buono, and Bob Smith. Assembly Bill 3301 establishes a greenhouse gas emissions reduction program to limit the level of statewide greenhouse gas emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generated outside the state but consumed in the state, to the 1990 level or below, of those emissions by the year 2020, and to reduce those emissions to 80% below the 2006 level by the year 2050. The real strength of this bill is that it mandates drastic reductions by 2050. According to the Washington Post (July 6, 2007), “U.S. states have taken action on their own and in regional groups because the federal government has not yet passed mandatory regulations on emissions.” This story notes that the New Jersey law is tougher than California’s 2006 law because the NJ law contains “hard,” “enforceable” mandates – whereas the CA law only contains targets. The bill was signed by the governor on July 6, 2007.

Democratic legislators are continuing to fight for the environment through legislation on “green jobs,” “green buildings,” and renewable energy standards. For a good overview of state legislative action on environmental issues, be sure to check out the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.