Action Alert for Marylanders!
Today is Crossover Day - a VERY BIG DEAL. Practically speaking, a bill has to pass at least one house by end of the day today, or it's going nowhere.
There's a long list of bills progressive would love to see get passed, but there's one bill that's truly on the precipice today: the Maryland Clean Energy Jobs Act (SB 516 / HB 1158).
It’s an imperfect compromise bill, that’s been fought over for 2 years now. The current version would raise Maryland's Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) to push our electrical providers to supply 50% renewable energy by 2030. It's not enough and there are some bad elements in the RPS that aren’t being fixed by this bill, but it’s still crucial to get this passed. We can improve on it in years to come, but first, we must get it through the Maryland State Senate today.
New Mexico's Governor is about to sign a law doing just that in her state. D.C. has passed a bill to move the city to 100% renewable. There's no reason why Maryland can't increase our goals. Meanwhile, New Jersey is trying to land offshore windmill contracts, which would probably capture the market. If Maryland doesn't act now to speed up renewable energy investments, we will miss the chance to bring those offshore jobs here. There’s also solar energy credits that will expire soon.
Proponents of the bill projected 25,000 jobs would be created by the legislation over the next decade. It was inspired by early proposals for a federal Green New Deal. Think of it as a Green New Deal for Maryland.
The logic of passing the bill now is clear to all but the legislative leadership, which hasn’t stood up for this bill.
The MD CEJA is on life support at the House Economic Matters Committee — it survived a vote to issue an unfavorable vote. This a surprise really, but it means it’s still alive there, and maybe members are waiting now to see what the Senate will do. The Senate version passed the Senate Finance Committee this past weekend. If the full Senate votes on it and passes it today, we will still have 3 weeks to persuade House members, and we will have some real momentum and leverage.
* So, here's the ask: CALL YOUR STATE SENATOR. Call TODAY. Call now. If you don't know who your Senator is, click this link and enter your address (in the text input bar at the left of the map there). You can get the Senator's office phone number by clicking on the name of your Senator on the list in the attached link here. Then, tell them to demand a floor vote and to vote yes on SB 516. Thanks.