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You are here: Home / Washington / Washington State Considers Aggressive Job Creation Legislation

Washington State Considers Aggressive Job Creation Legislation

January 31, 2012 By Brittany Quigley

The legislation with perhaps the greatest chance of affecting the energy efficiency business climate is not yet a bill. While no specific legislative language has been introduced, the concept of a job creating public infrastructure investment effort has visibly surfaced in major print media (eliciting the predictable editorial negative from the Seattle Times before there was even a bill to be negative about). For a positive read on the concept, turn to the The News Tribune – http://blog.thenewstribune.com/opinion/tag/derek-kilmer/.

In essence, the concept to be considered by the Legislature is to invest in needed public infrastructure improvements (think roads, bridges, water systems, ports, schools, etc.) by issuing revenue bonds and then servicing the debt by tapping existing state revenue streams from taxes paid by utilities, solid waste, and manufacturers of toxic substances such as pesticides. In many ways, this is simply fast forwarding needed infrastructure investments for the sake of near term job creation.

And here is where it can get interesting for energy efficiency. One version of the bill (yet to be introduced), the House effort, would use a portion of the more than $1 billion investment pool to fund energy efficiency projects in schools, universities, and local and state government buildings.   Capital project based energy efficiency is job creator and particularly so for the hard hit construction trades sector. Currently, it appears that the Senate version of this concept will have much less of a commitment to energy efficiency projects. NEEC has made this a top legislative priority and will be working with stakeholders to convince key legislators on the merits of the idea in general and specifically the job creating potential that an energy efficiency investment can make.

Filed Under: Washington

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