Model Green Jobs Legislation

With increased focus on the environment, and in the aftermath of the ARRA, hundreds of green jobs bills were introduced in the states this legislative session.  Below is a sampling of some model bills introduced in 2008 and 2009. 

·         Washington has been a leader in the green jobs arena for the past couple of years.  During the 2009 session,  Senate Bill 5649 was signed into law.  This law aggregates all federal Recovery Act dollars directed towards energy efficiency, and attaches labor standards.  Community leaders,  including those from faith-based organizations, non-profits, and unions, worked tirelessly on developing and passing this legislation alongside their state legislators.  Among other things, the legislation puts Washington on the path to weatherize and otherwise make more energy efficient, 100,000 homes and buildings over the next five years.  In addition, the law creates an Energy Efficiency Improvement Program, which will provide grants and technical assistance to neighborhood energy-efficiency projects throughout the state. The law also includes requirements that contractors employ workers from training and apprentice programs, pay prevailing wages, hire from the community in which the program is located, and provide opportunities to veterans and low-income individuals. For low-income weatherization programs, the law prioritizes programs which provide career pathways out of poverty and into construction trades.

·         A 8377, introduced in New York, creates a Green Jobs Task Force, which will conduct a study of the state’s green economy labor market needs, inventory training programs to identify gaps in existing programs, expand existing green jobs training programs, and target training towards disadvantaged populations through a variety of measures including ensuring access and establishing coordinated green career pathways.  

·         In California, the California Energy Commission adopted the state’s first transportation Investment Plan.  The Alternative and Renewable Fuels and Vehicle Technology Program’s Investment Plan allocates $176 million over the next two years to stimulate green transportation projects and encourage innovation to help meet the state’s aggressive climate change policies.  The Alternative and Renewable Fuels Vehicle Technology Program was established by AB 118, which authorizes the Energy Commission to provide approximately $120 million annually over seven years to develop these new fuels and technologies and ensure that they are accessible to the public, and encourage motorists and fleet operators to purchase new advanced vehicles.  In its newly adopted Investment Plan, the Energy Commission proposes to expand the use of low carbon fuels and cleaner vehicles that are available today and open up the market for the more exotic technologies that are required in the future.  Over the next two years, the Energy Commission will invest $46 million for electric vehicles, public charging stations, and manufacturing plants; $40 million for hydrogen fueling stations; $12 million for advanced ethanol fuel production facilities and E-85 fueling stations; $43 million for natural gas vehicles, fueling stations and biomethane production facilities; $6 million for advanced renewable diesel and bio diesel facilities; and $2 million for propane vehicles. The Investment Plan also directs $27 million go to fund workforce training programs, research, public education and technical assistance programs.

·         In 2008, Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts signed HB 5018.  The Green Jobs Act created the Massachusetts Clean Energy Technology Center to serve as the state’s lead agency on the green economy.  The Center will work to stimulate job creation in the clean energy sector, promote workforce training, and conduct market research to identify barriers to the clean energy industry and job training needs.  The Green Jobs Act also established the Alternative and Clean Energy Investment Trust Fund to stimulate the growth of the state’s green economy.  Under the Act the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs is authorized to use $1,000,000 from the Fund in fiscal year 2009 for:

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  • A seed grant program for clean energy companies, institutions or nonprofit organizations;
  • A workforce development grant program to award grants to universities and colleges, vocational technical schools or community-based organizations with existing or potential workforce development programs in clean energy; 
  A pathways out of poverty initiative to award five competitive grants to clean energy companies, community-based nonprofit organizations, educational institutions or labor organizations for training programs that lead to economic self-sufficiency.

These state programs are a start to making America Energy Independent from foreign fossil fuels in the 21^st century!

Dennis Spisak

Mahoning Valley Green Party

Ohio Green Party

www.ohiogreens.org

www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/