Climate Commitment Act, SB 5126, was passed recently by the Washington State Legislature, the first climate legislation in the country to pave the way to net zero carbon emissions by the year 2050. The historic and carefully crafted cap-and-invest legislation is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee.

Bill sponsor Senator Reuven Carlyle and house environment committee Chair Representative Joe Fitzgibbon worked closely with members of both houses to ensure the legislation would put both a decreasing cap on carbon and on greenhouse gas emissions while making significant investments in new infrastructure, transit, agriculture, forestry and shipbuilding projects. The bill puts a hard cap on carbon emissions and lowers that cap year-by-year.

“This remarkable outcome could not have been achieved without the steadfast leadership of Senator Carlyle, Representative Fitzgibbon, and a host of elected officials and other climate champions,” said David Giuliani, co-founder of Washington Business Alliance, Sonicare inventor and entrepreneur. “Years of passionate advocacy and alliance building enabled this moment, which has eluded Olympia over the last decade.”

Importantly, the Climate Commitment Act includes several provisions to prioritize historically overburdened communities including establishment of an Environmental Justice Council.