Ballot Initiative 937 was a successful clean energy initiative in the US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 state of Washington, appearing on the ballot in the November 2006 elections. It passed with 52 percent of the vote http://www.msnbc.msn.com/default.aspx/id/15652935/.

Content of the proposal

The initiative proposes to require large utilities

Electric utility

An electric utility is a company that engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major provider of energy in most countries. It is indispensable to factories, commercial establishments,...

 to obtain 15% of their electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

 from new renewable resource

Renewable resource

A renewable resource is a natural resource with the ability of being replaced through biological or other natural processes and replenished with the passage of time...

s such as solar and wind

Wind energy

Wind energy is the kinetic energy of air in motion; see also wind power.Total wind energy flowing through an imaginary area A during the time t is:E = ½ m v2 = ½ v 2...

 but excluding hydro by 2020 with incremental steps of 3% by 2012 and 9% by 2016 along with undertaking cost-effective energy conservation

Energy conservation

Energy conservation refers to efforts made to reduce energy consumption. Energy conservation can be achieved through increased efficient energy use, in conjunction with decreased energy consumption and/or reduced consumption from conventional energy sources...

.

Precedents

Similar legislation was 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 for easy comparison.)

State	Name	Enacted	Percentage	By	Comments/Source
Maine Maine Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...			30%	2000
Arizona Arizona Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...			1.1%	2007
Massachusetts Massachusetts The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...			4%	2009
Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...			10%	2010
Iowa Iowa Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...			~10%	2010
New Mexico New Mexico New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...			10%	2011
New York New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...			24%	2013
Nevada Nevada Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...			20%	2015
Minnesota Minnesota Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...			19%	2015
Montana Montana Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...			15%	2015
Colorado Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...	Amendment 37	2004	10%	2015	First ballot initiative
Texas Texas Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...			~4.2%	2015	5.88 GW
California California California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...			20%	2017
Rhode Island Rhode Island The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...			16%	2019
Delaware Delaware Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...			10%	2019
Maryland Maryland Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...			7.5%	2019
New Jersey New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...			22.5%	2020
Hawaii Hawaii Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...			20%	2020
Washington	I-937		15%	2020
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....			11%	2022
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...			8%	2020

Unless indicated otherwise, data are from

Elected officials

• U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell
  Maria Cantwell
  Maria E. Cantwell is the junior United States Senator from the state of Washington and a member of the Democratic Party....
  
   and Patty Murray
  Patty Murray
  Patricia Lynn "Patty" Murray is the senior United States Senator from Washington and a member of the Democratic Party. Murray was first elected to the Senate in 1992, becoming Washington's first female senator...
  
  
• U.S. Congressmen Jay Inslee
  Jay Inslee
  Jay Robert Inslee is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1999. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes many of Seattle's northern suburbs in King, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties...
  
  , Adam Smith
  Adam Smith
  Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
  
  , Norm Dicks and Jim McDermott
  Jim McDermott
  James Adelbert "Jim" McDermott is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1989. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The 7th District includes most of Seattle and Vashon Island, and portions of Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Tukwila, SeaTac, and Burien.He serves on the House Ways and Means...
  
  
• State Senators Luke Esser
  Luke Esser
  Luke Esser was the chairman of the Republican Party of Washington from 2007 to 2011. He was elected on January 27, 2007, when he defeated incumbent chairwoman Diane Tebelius, was re-elected in 2009, but lost to Kirby Wilbur in 2011....
  
   (R), Dave Schmidt
  Dave Schmidt
  David Joseph Schmidt , is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched twelve seasons in the majors from until . He is currently the pitching coordinator for the Orioles.-External links:...
  
   (R), Debbie Regala
  Debbie Regala
  Debbie Regala is a Washington state senator serving the 27th district.Regala has served in the Washington State Senate since 2000. In 2003, she was appointed Assistant Democratic Floor Leader; and in 2005, she was elected Majority Whip. Prior to her election to the Senate, Regala served in the...
  
   (D), Bill Finkbeiner (R), Erik Poulsen
  Erik Poulsen
  Erik Poulsen is the former state Senator from Washington's 34th Legislative District, a district that includes West Seattle, Vashon Island, and most of Burien. He announced his resignation on 5 September 2007, to take effect at the beginning of October...
  
   (D), Karen Fraser
  Karen Fraser
  Karen Fraser is a Washington State Senator for the 22nd District, comprising the northern portion of Thurston County, including all of Olympia, Lacey, and most of Tumwater....
  
   (D), Craig Pridemore
  Craig Pridemore
  Craig A. Pridemore is a Democratic Washington State Senator, representing the 49th district since 2005. He is also a candidate for Washington State Auditor in 2012. He was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives for Washington's 3rd congressional district in the 2010 election to...
  
   (D), Jeanne Kohl-Welles
  Jeanne Kohl-Welles
  Washington State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles has been an educator, a community leader, and legislator for many years.She represents the 36th Legislative District which includes Ballard, Belltown, Blue Ridge, Crown Hill, Greenwood, Magnolia, and Queen Anne Hill neighborhoods of Seattle as well as the...
  
   (D), Karen Keiser
  Karen Keiser
  Karen Keiser is a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Washington. She represents the 33rd district in the Washington State Senate, which contains parts of Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Kent and Des Moines. She has served in the state senate since 2002 and served in the Washington House...
  
   (D)
• State Representatives Toby Nixon
  Toby Nixon
  Toby Nixon is an American politician from Washington state and a former Republican member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 45th Legislative District.He was appointed to a vacant House seat in 2002, and was elected as an incumbent in 2004...
  
   (R), Zach Hudgins (D), Brian J. Sullivan (D), Fred Jarrett
  Fred Jarrett
  Fred Jarrett is the Deputy King County Executive and a former Democratic member of the Washington State Senate, representing the 41st district since January 2009. He was first elected to the Washington House of Representatives in 2001 as a Republican, serving four terms. He switched parties in...
  
   (R), Pat Sullivan
  Pat Sullivan
  Patrick Sullivan may refer to:* Pat Sullivan , Australian film producer and animator* Pat Sullivan , American football coach and former player...
  
   (D), Geoff Simpson
  Geoff Simpson
  Geoffrey H. "Geoff" Simpson is serving as a Democratic member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 47th district. Prior to his election in 2000, Simpson served as a member of the City Council of Covington, Washington and as Mayor Pro Tempore....
  
   (D), Rodney Tom
  Rodney Tom
  Rodney Tom is an American politician, currently representing Washington's 48th Legislative District in the state Senate and a member of the Democratic Party.- Personal life :...
  
   (D), Dave Upthegrove
  Dave Upthegrove
  Dave Upthegrove is an American politician from the state of Washington. He is currently a Democratic member of the Washington House of Representatives, representing the 33rd legislative district. His district encompasses part of Burien, SeaTac as well as Normandy Park, Des Moines and large parts of...
  
   (D), Brendan Williams
  Brendan Williams
  Brendan Williams is Deputy Commissioner in the Office of the Washington State Insurance Commissioner in Olympia, Washington. He served as a Democrat member of the Washington House of Representatives, representing the 22nd district from 2005 to 2011....
  
   (D)
• King County Executive Ron Sims
  Ron Sims
  Ronald Cordell Sims, , is currently the Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, having been confirmed by the Senate on May 6, 2009 and sworn in on May 8. He is also the former King County Executive...
  
  
• Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
  Greg Nickels
  Gregory J. "Greg" Nickels was the 51st mayor of Seattle, Washington. He took office on January 1, 2002 and was reelected to a second term in 2005. In August 2009, Nickels finished third in the primary election for Seattle mayor, failing to qualify for the November 2009 general election, and...
  
  

Civic and political organizations

• League of Women Voters
  League of Women Voters
  The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote...
  
  
• Kittitas Valley League of Women voters
  League of Women Voters
  The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote...
  
  
• Washington State Democrats
  Democratic Party (United States)
  The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
  
  
• King County Young Democrats
• Republicans for Environmental Protection, Washington Chapter
• Green Party
  Green Party (United States)
  The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...
  
   of Washington State
• Peace Action
  Peace Action
  Peace Action is a peace organization formed through the merger of The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy and the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign...
  
   for Washington

Health organizations

• American Lung Association
  American Lung Association
  The American Lung Association is a voluntary health organization whose mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease.-History:...
  
  
• American Cancer Society
  American Cancer Society
  The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
  
  
• Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
  Physicians for Social Responsibility
  Physicians for Social Responsibility is the largest physician-led organization in the USA working to protect the public from the what they consider threats of nuclear proliferation, climate change, and environmental toxins...
  
  

Energy and labor

• Washington Public Utility District
  Public utility district
  In the United States, a public utility district is a special-purpose district or other governmental jurisdiction that provides public utilities to the residents of that district.PUDs are created by a local government body, such as a city, county, or...
  
  s Association
• Washington State Labor Council
  Washington State Labor Council
  The Washington State Labor Council is the Washington branch of the AFL-CIO. It represents all AFL-CIO affiliates in state politics, and is major interest group, particularly for Democratic politicians. The organization was split when several national unions broke from the AFL-CIO and formed the...
  
  
• United Steelworkers
  United Steelworkers
  The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union is the largest industrial labor union in North America, with 705,000 members. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, U.S., the United Steelworkers represents workers in the United...
  
  
• SEIU Washington State Council
• Apollo Alliance
  Apollo Alliance
  The Apollo Alliance is a project organized by the Institute for America's Future and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. The Alliance is a project of the Tides Center....
  
  
• Blue-Green Alliance
  Blue-Green Alliance
  A Blue-green alliance describes an alliance between political parties and other organizations. It has several different meanings that may be evidence that green politics is "neither left nor right", and can ally with either in a given context.-Canada:...
  
  

Environmental

• Denis Hayes
  Denis Hayes
  Denis Hayes is an environmental activist and proponent of solar power. He rose to prominence in 1970 as the coordinator for the first Earth Day.Hayes founded the Earth Day Network and expanded it to more than 180 nations...
  
  , Founder of Earth Day
  Earth Day
  Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. The first Proclamation of Earth Day was by San Francisco, the...
  
  
• Audubon Society Washington
• The Mountaineers
  The Mountaineers (Pacific NW)
  The Mountaineers is an outdoor recreation, education, and conservation group based in Seattle, Washington and is the third largest group of its kind in the country. Its central Program Center located in Seattle's Magnuson Park is complete with education facilities for all aspects of the alpine...
  
  
• Sierra Club
  Sierra Club
  The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
  
   - Cascade Chapter
• Washington Conservation Voters
  League of Conservation Voters
  The League of Conservation Voters is a political advocacy organization founded in 1969 by American environmentalist David Brower in the early years of the environmental movement. LCV's mission is to "advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt...
  
  
• Union of Concerned Scientists
  Union of Concerned Scientists
  The Union of Concerned Scientists is a nonprofit science advocacy group based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists. James J...
  
  
• Natural Resources Defense Council
  Natural Resources Defense Council
  The Natural Resources Defense Council is a New York City-based, non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing...
  
  
• National Wildlife Federation
  National Wildlife Federation
  The National Wildlife Federation is the United States' largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization, with over four million members and supporters, and 48 state and territorial affiliated organizations...
  
  

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 Olympian
  The Olympian is a McClatchy newspaper in Olympia, Washington, in the United States.-History:The Olympian started in 1860 as "The Washington Standard" a weekly paper. Daily papers did not start until February 1889. The Olympian started daily service as a way to lead the crusade to make Olympia the...
  
  
• The Tacoma News Tribune
  Tacoma News Tribune
  The News Tribune is a daily newspaper in Tacoma, Washington, in the United States.-History:It can trace its origins back to the founding of the weekly Tacoma Ledger by R.F. Radabaugh in 1880. The next year, H.C. Patrick founded The News, another weekly. Both papers became dailies in 1883. In 1898,...
  
  
• The Stranger
  The Stranger (newspaper)
  The Stranger is an alternative weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, USA. It runs a blog known as Slog.-History:The Stranger was founded by Tim Keck, who had previously co-founded the satirical newspaper The Onion, and cartoonist James Sturm. Its first issue came out on September 23, 1991...
  
  

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
  Boeing
  The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
  
  
• Boise Cascade
  Boise Cascade
  Boise Cascade Holdings, LLC, which uses the trade name Boise, is an American pulp and paper company, ranked as the thirteenth largest forest products company in the world....
  
  
• 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
  National Association of Manufacturers
  The National Association of Manufacturers is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C. with 10 additional offices across the country...
  
  
• Peninsula Light Company
• PUDs of Benton, Cowlitz, Franklin, Lewis, and Mason County.
• Representatives Brian Blake (D) and Dean Takko
• Senators Jean Berkey
  Jean Berkey
  Jean Berkey was a Washington State Senator for the 38th District. She placed third in an August, 2010 primary election and was eliminated from the general election per Washington state's 'top two' primary system. Her term ended in January, 2011....
  
   (D) and Mark L. Doumit
  Mark Doumit
  Mark Doumit was a Washington State Senator who represented the 19th District . He vacated his seat to take a job in the private sector in late 2006.-External links:*...
  
   (D)
• Snohomish County PUD
  Snohomish County PUD
  Snohomish County Public Utility District is a public utility providing power to 320,000 customers in Snohomish County and on Camano Island, Washington. It provides water service to over 20,000 customers in the northeast section of the Snohomish County....
  
   commissioner Kathy Vaughn
• Tanner Electric Cooperative
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• Washington Farm Bureau
• Washington Rurual Electric Cooperative Association
• Weyerhaeuser
  Weyerhaeuser
  Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world. It is the world's largest private sector owner of softwood timberland; and the second largest owner of United States timberland, behind Plum Creek Timber...
  
  

External links

• No on I-937
• Washington’s Primary Energy Consumption by Source (.doc)