Ballot Initiative 937 (official name Initiative measure no. 937, known as I-937) is a renewable energy initiative passed in the US state of Washington, appearing on the ballot in the November 2006 elections. It passed with 52 percent of the vote.

Content of the proposal The initiative requires large utilities to obtain 15% of their electricity from new renewable resources such as solar and wind (but excluding hydro) by 2020 with incremental steps of 3% by 2012 and 9% by 2016. It also requires that utilities undertake all cost-effective energy conservation.Full text of Ballot Initiative 937 (.pdf)

Precedents Similar legislation has been enacted in at least 20 other states including the following. (The table is sorted by date and then by descending percentage. I-937 is included in bold.) State Name Enacted Percentage By Comments/Source Maine 30% 2000 Arizona 1.1% 2007 Massachusetts 4% 2009 Connecticut 10% 2010 Iowa ~10% 2010 New Mexico 10% 2011 New York 24% 2013 Nevada 20% 2015 Minnesota 19% 2015 Montana 15% 2015 Colorado Amendment 37 2004 10% 2015 First ballot initiative Texas ~4.2% 2015 5.88 GW California 20% 2017 Rhode Island 16% 2019 Delaware 10% 2019 Maryland 7.5% 2019 New Jersey 22.5% 2020 Hawaii 20% 2020 Washington I-937 15% 2020 Washington, D.C. 11% 2022 Pennsylvania 8% 2020 Unless indicated otherwise, data are from

Supporters Supporters included the following:

Elected officials U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray U.S. Congressmen Jay Inslee, Adam Smith, Norm Dicks and Jim McDermott State Senators Luke Esser (R), Dave Schmidt (R), Debbie Regala (D), Bill Finkbeiner (R), Erik Poulsen (D), Karen Fraser (D), Craig Pridemore (D), Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D), Karen Keiser (D) State Representatives Toby Nixon (R), Zack Hudgins (D), Brian J. Sullivan (D), Fred Jarrett (R), Pat Sullivan (D), Geoff Simpson (D), Rodney Tom (D), Dave Upthegrove (D), Brendan Williams (D) King County Executive Ron Sims Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels

Civic and political organizations League of Women Voters Kittitas Valley League of Women voters Washington State Democrats King County Young Democrats Republicans for Environmental Protection, Washington Chapter Green Party of Washington State Peace Action for Washington

Health organizations American Lung Association American Cancer Society Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility

Energy and labor Washington Public Utility Districts Association Washington State Labor Council United Steelworkers SEIU Washington State Council

Environmental Denis Hayes, Founder of Earth Day NW Energy Coalition Audubon Society Washington The Mountaineers Sierra Club - Cascade Chapter Washington Conservation Voters Union of Concerned Scientists Natural Resources Defense Council National Wildlife Federation

Faith Earth Ministry Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington Washington Association of Churches Church Council of Greater Seattle

Newspapers The Seattle P-I The Olympian The Tacoma News Tribune The Stranger

Opponents Opponents included many small co-op electrical providers (even though the initiative affects only utilities with greater than 25,000 customers) as well as the following: Big Bend Electrical Cooperative Boeing Boise Cascade Chamber of Commerces: Bellevue, Greater Seattle, Kelso-Longview, Pasco, Spokane Regional, Tacoma-Pierce County, Wenatchee Valley, West Richland Area Modern Electric Water Company National Association of Manufacturers Peninsula Light Company PUDs of Benton, Cowlitz, Franklin, Lewis, and Mason County. Representatives Brian Blake (D) and Dean Takko (D) Senators Jean Berkey (D) and Mark L. Doumit (D) Tanner Electric Cooperative U.S. Chamber of Commerce Washington Farm Bureau Washington Rural Electric Cooperative Association Weyerhaeuser

Results

By county +CountyYesNoMarginTotal votes#%#%#%Adams1,23536.33%2,16463.67%-929-27.33%3,399Asotin3,35147.06%3,76952.94%-418-5.87%7,120Benton15,92333.08%32,20566.92%-16,282-33.83%48,128Chelan7,07331.52%15,36468.48%-8,291-36.95%22,437Clallam15,24751.87%14,15048.13%1,0973.73%29,397Clark57,44651.77%53,51348.23%3,9333.54%110,959Columbia60832.85%1,24367.15%-635-34.31%1,851Cowlitz12,69742.24%17,36257.76%-4,665-15.52%30,059Douglas2,84126.44%7,90473.56%-5,063-47.12%10,745Ferry1,24946.40%1,44353.60%-194-7.21%2,692Franklin4,09332.95%8,32967.05%-4,236-34.10%12,422Garfield40635.93%72464.07%-318-28.14%1,130Grant5,38127.97%13,85772.03%-8,476-44.06%19,238Grays Harbor8,68440.28%12,87459.72%-4,190-19.44%21,558Island15,89854.37%13,34545.63%2,5538.73%29,243Jefferson9,86062.84%5,83037.16%4,03025.69%15,690King363,09359.61%246,00740.39%117,08619.22%609,100Kitsap47,39253.47%41,24846.53%6,1446.93%88,640Kittitas5,71947.91%6,21752.09%-498-4.17%11,936Klickitat3,74152.31%3,41147.69%3304.61%7,152Lewis9,50838.69%15,06761.31%-5,559-22.62%24,575Lincoln1,46832.23%3,08767.77%-1,619-35.54%4,555Mason8,99543.22%11,81656.78%-2,821-13.56%20,811Okanogan4,89039.31%7,54960.69%-2,659-21.38%12,439Pacific4,31451.65%4,03848.35%2763.30%8,352Pend Oreille1,89337.91%3,10162.09%-1,208-24.19%4,994Pierce105,09351.15%100,36248.85%4,7312.30%205,455San Juan4,76859.57%3,23640.43%1,53219.14%8,004Skagit17,57544.75%21,70155.25%-4,126-10.51%39,276Skamania2,12354.51%1,77245.49%3519.01%3,895Snohomish99,89750.18%99,16449.82%7330.37%199,061Spokane71,73247.63%78,85852.37%-7,126-4.73%150,590Stevens6,60139.88%9,95360.12%-3,352-20.25%16,554Thurston46,98057.07%35,34142.93%11,63914.14%82,321Wahkiakum75043.86%96056.14%-210-12.28%1,710Walla Walla7,00140.49%10,29159.51%-3,290-19.03%17,292Whatcom37,17855.45%29,87344.55%7,30510.89%67,051Whitman6,06547.90%6,59752.10%-532-4.20%12,662Yakima23,91145.17%29,02254.83%-5,111-9.66%52,933Totals1,042,67951.73%972,74748.27%69,9323.47%2,015,426

References

External links Washington’s Primary Energy Consumption by Source (.doc)