Hello clean-air-and-climate friends: Lots of news this week, so please read on (here or on our blog) and please share widely!
The bad news: We don’t yet have the updated Fiscal Estimate and consequently we don’t yet have petition packets for signature gatherers. The deadline for the state to release the updated Fiscal Estimate was yesterday (M June 17) but the Lt Governor’s office says it won’t be done for another day or two. Fingers crossed, and we’ll send out an update as soon as we know more. And FYI after it’s done we’ll get a sample petition packet (here’s an example from 2018) and then we’ll need a few more days beyond that to run off copies and begin gathering signatures, so it’s looking more like early next week rather than this weekend.
Some good news: We have yard signs and stickers and signboards! If you want a yard sign or a sticker (for your car, bicycle, laptop, etc.) all we’re asking is that you send in a donation that helps us cover our costs so that the campaign operation stays sustainable. Donate just $5 and we’ll mail you an envelope with two kinds of stickers, Even better, donate $20 and we’ll hand-deliver those stickers plus a yard sign! If you’re a student or otherwise can’t afford it but want stickers or a yard sign then just let us know, and if you’re able to double your donation then that will help us provide yard signs and stickers to everyone who wants them… thank you!
More good news: We have drafts of two new fiscal impact tools. We’re almost ready to launch the calculator tool (an easy-to-use webpage rather than the Excel spreadsheet we have now) and so we’re looking for volunteers to try it out; please let us know if you have 10 minutes to give it a whirl! Also, I spent the last few weeks working with Drew Fagerlin (a UC Berkeley environmental econ major who’s moved to Utah to help with the campaign) on a draft distributional impacts analysis. We’re sharing this draft with fellow economists for feedback, and your feedback is welcome too! And FYI the conclusion of our draft analysis is as follows: “Average households in the lowest two income quintiles will come out slightly ahead, with an average household in the lowest income quintile [i.e., the lowest 20%] gaining $105 and an average household in the second-lowest income quintiles gaining $67. The middle income quintile has a small cost increase ($133 for an average household), with higher costs for the top two income quintiles.”
Even more good news: We have a simple three-part plan to get most of our signatures this summer. Our plan involves (1) finding 100 Clean The Darn Air volunteers who are willing to put in a solid 40 hours of work to gather 1,000 signatures each; (2) finding 100 Clean The Darn Air “emissionaries” who are willing to do the same in exchange for $500; and (3) finding 100 Clean The Darn Air “emissionary sponsors” to donate $500 each. (As an added bonus your $500 donation gets you stickers and a yard sign, plus signed copies of The Cartoon Introduction to Economics and The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change. You get the same if you gather signatures as a volunteer.) So: As the signs outside some houses of worship put it, “CH__CH. What’s missing? U R.” In other words: If you want to be an emissionary sponsor, please donate here. And if you want to be an emissionary, or a volunteer signature gatherer, please contact us with your name and zip code, tell us a bit about yourself, and please confirm that you’re age 18+ and a resident of Utah. (If you’re a registered voter in Utah then please tell us that, too, because that covers both of those bases.)
PS. In the news and On the ground: We were in the Tribune again yesterday, and two of our young volunteers (Tim Woodruff and Ronan Carrier) will be doing a KRCL RadioACTive interview on W June 26 (6-7pm on 90.3 KRCL). I’ll be in Logan for a comedy-and-carbon-tax talk that same night, W June 26. All of this is gearing up so that we can hit the ground running with signature gathering, so thanks for anything and everything you can do!