# 2006 Washington Initiative 937

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Ballot Initiative 937 (official name Initiative measure no. 937, known as I-937) is a clean 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.

## 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), Zach 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 Archived 2006-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
* 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
* Senators Jean Berkey (D) and Mark L. Doumit (D)
* Tanner Electric Cooperative Archived 2006-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
* U.S. Chamber of Commerce
* Washington Farm Bureau
* Washington Rural Electric Cooperative Association
* Weyerhaeuser