Encouraging State-level Climate Progress

By Jamie DeMarco, CCL State Level Carbon Pricing Coordinator

Carbon pricing is seeing some encouraging movement at the state level! Here’s a peek at some recent successes and ongoing efforts:

Virginia’s Clean Economy Act

Virginia recently passed the Virginia Clean Economy Act through both chambers of its legislature. This bill requires 100% renewable electricity by 2050 and sets big targets for offshore wind. The bill also includes language that will allow Virginia to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon pricing model in the northeast.

CCL volunteers in Virginia worked to share information on the General Assembly green legislation, so that individual CCL members could use their constituent skills to engage with their state lawmakers. 

The passage of this bill makes it clear that strong climate legislation and the idea of putting a price on carbon pollution are no longer limited to certain areas of the country, like California or the northeast—they’re spreading to the south and becoming the new norm. Read more about Virginia’s bill here. 

Hawaii’s carbon pricing bill

Hawaii is working hard to put a price on pollution! SB 3150 is a piece of legislation that will enact a steadily rising fee on fossil fuels, reaching $70 by 2030, and it will give a tax rebate to low & middle income Hawaiians. 

Local CCLers are working to advance this bill, which has already passed through several committees in Hawaii’s legislature.

You can learn more about this bill in this great article from Climate XChange.

West Virginia works together

There’s also some encouraging bipartisan work happening in West Virginia. This month, lawmakers in the Senate unanimously passed a bill to expand the state’s solar capacity.

“We have been blessed with an abundance of natural resources,” one Republican said. “We need to add solar to our inventory.”

Congratulations to all our volunteers and allies working hard to advance meaningful climate policy at the state level!