Please join us on Zoom (link available via email) from 7-7:40pm MT every other Wednesday night, including tomorrow night: W Jan 5, W Jan 19, etc. All are welcome! We’ll talk about policy development and outreach efforts as we prepare to qualify for the Nov 2024 ballot by collecting signatures from about Feb 27 – Nov 27, 2023. (Mark your calendars, and follow the previous link if you’re new to the campaign and want to get caught up!)

What to look forward to in 2022:

  • Spring interns: We are so lucky to have two U of U Hinckley Institute interns joining us for the semester! Casey Hansen is a senior majoring in Economics, with a minor in Political Science; he’s interested in climate change policy and economic inequality. Jack Podolsky is a junior pursuing degrees in International Studies, Geography, and Environmental Studies; he’s passionate about the outdoors and is on the ASUS Campus Events Advisory Board. Welcome Jack and Casey!
  • Clean-energy-and-climate legislation: We will soon have news about a bill being introduced in the Utah state legislature! There’s slim odds of passing a bill in the session, which starts Jan 18 and goes until March 4, but it’s worth trying and it will contribute to the public discussion. FYI the bill will build on the work we began in 2018 with Rep. Joel Briscoe and others; summaries and details are here, holler if you have suggestions for improvement!
  • Signature-gathering plan: Feedback is welcome on this draft plan for signature gathering in all 29 state senate districts. We will be improving this plan all year and preparing for an all-volunteer signature-gathering effort in 2023.
  • End of year goal: By the end of 2022 we should have a finalized signature-gathering plan and be ready with legal language to follow our timeline and file our ballot measure on Jan 11, 2023!

PS. Help Becky Edwards qualify for the ballot: Climate and air quality champion Becky Edwards, who served in the state House from 2008-2018, is challenging Mike Lee for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. To make sure she’s on the primary ballot she’ll need to gather 28,000 signatures this winter and spring, so this is an opportunity for us to help a strong candidate… and get signature-gathering practice! If you’re interested you can sign up here.

PPS. Action in other states: With federal climate action stalled, there’s renewed interest in state-level efforts, so I’m excited to report that I’m working with some colleagues and a state legislator in Nebraska on a modest-but-not-trivial proposal that could be good policy and good politics in that state and in other states, including but not limited to Arizona, Georgia, and South Dakota. I’m honored to have gotten a $50k ACX grant to work there and elsewhere on #Climate24x7, an effort to push smart climate legislation in at least 7 states by 2024. I look forward to sharing more details in the weeks ahead, and if you have connections to state legislators or activists in those or other states please let me know so that we can push forward on parallel tracks!