411 REFERENCE · Wikipedia
2006 Washington Initiative 937
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Initiative measure no. 937 Clean Energy Initiative 1,042,679 972,747 File:2006 Washington Initiative 937 results map by county.svg County results
Yes:#b6c8d9 50–60%#7D9CBB 60–70%No:#DEDEBD 50–60%#BCBC83 60–70%#8B8B54 70–80% Source: Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections2006 Initiative General Election Results - Washington https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2006&off=62&elect=0&fips=53&f=0 January 12, 2024 David Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
Ballot Initiative 937 (official name Initiative measure no. 937, known as I-937) is a renewable energy initiative passed in the US state of Washington, appearing on the ballot in the November 2006 elections. It passed with 52 percent of the vote.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/default.aspx/id/15652935/ MSN MSNBC https://web.archive.org/web/20071116051103/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/default.aspx/id/15652935/ November 16, 2007
Content of the proposal
The initiative requires large utilities to obtain 15% of their electricity from new renewable resources such as solar and wind (but excluding hydro) by 2020 with incremental steps of 3% by 2012 and 9% by 2016. It also requires that utilities undertake all cost-effective energy conservation.Full text of Ballot Initiative 937 (.pdf)
Precedents
Similar legislation has been enacted in at least 20 other states including the following. (The table is sorted by date and then by descending percentage. I-937 is included in bold.)
State Name Enacted Percentage By Comments/Source Maine 30% 2000 Arizona 1.1% 2007 Massachusetts 4% 2009 Connecticut 10% 2010 Iowa ~10% 2010 New Mexico 10% 2011 New York 24% 2013 Nevada 20% 2015 Minnesota 19% 2015 Montana 15% 2015 Colorado Amendment 37 2004 10% 2015 First ballot initiativehttp://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/clean_energy_policies/the-colorado-renewable-energy-standard-ballot-initiative.html The Colorado Renewable Energy Standard Ballot Initiative 2006-10-26 2006-10-28 https://web.archive.org/web/20061028145626/http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/clean_energy_policies/the-colorado-renewable-energy-standard-ballot-initiative.html dead Texas ~4.2% 2015 5.88 GW California 20% 2017 Rhode Island 16% 2019 Delaware 10% 2019 Maryland 7.5% 2019 New Jersey 22.5% 2020 Hawaii 20% 2020 Washington I-937 15% 2020 Washington, D.C. 11% 2022 Pennsylvania 8% 2020
Unless indicated otherwise, data are from http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/clean_energy_policies/state-clean-energy-maps-and-graphs.html State Clean Energy Maps and Graphs 2006-10-26 2006-10-28 https://web.archive.org/web/20061028150240/http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/clean_energy_policies/state-clean-energy-maps-and-graphs.html dead
Supporters
Supporters included the following:http://www.yeson937.org/content.jsp?content_KEY=1977 Yes! On I-937 2006-10-26 2006-11-04 https://web.archive.org/web/20061104013315/http://www.yeson937.org/content.jsp?content_KEY=1977 dead
Elected officials
U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray
U.S. Congressmen Jay Inslee, Adam Smith, Norm Dicks and Jim McDermott
State Senators Luke Esser (R), Dave Schmidt (R), Debbie Regala (D), Bill Finkbeiner (R), Erik Poulsen (D), Karen Fraser (D), Craig Pridemore (D), Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D), Karen Keiser (D)
State Representatives Toby Nixon (R), Zack Hudgins (D), Brian J. Sullivan (D), Fred Jarrett (R), Pat Sullivan (D), Geoff Simpson (D), Rodney Tom (D), Dave Upthegrove (D), Brendan Williams (D)
King County Executive Ron Sims
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
Civic and political organizations
League of Women Voters
Kittitas Valley League of Women voters
Washington State Democrats
King County Young Democrats
Republicans for Environmental Protection, Washington Chapter
Green Party of Washington State
Peace Action for Washington
Health organizations
American Lung Association
American Cancer Society
Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
Energy and labor
Washington Public Utility Districts Association
Washington State Labor Council
United Steelworkers
SEIU Washington State Council
Environmental
Denis Hayes, Founder of Earth Day
NW Energy Coalition
Audubon Society Washington
The Mountaineers
Sierra Club - Cascade Chapter
Washington Conservation Voters
Union of Concerned Scientists
Natural Resources Defense Council
National Wildlife Federation
Faith
Earth Ministry
Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington
Washington Association of Churches
Church Council of Greater Seattle
Newspapers
The Seattle P-I
The Olympian
The Tacoma News Tribune
The Stranger
Opponents
Opponents included many small co-op electrical providers (even though the initiative affects only utilities with greater than 25,000 customers) as well as the following:http://www.nooni937.com/Endorsements.html Domain Name Renewal and web hosting from Network Solutions 2006-10-26 2007-09-06 https://web.archive.org/web/20070906085923/http://nooni937.com/Endorsements.html dead
Big Bend Electrical Cooperative https://web.archive.org/web/20060813113324/http://www.bbec.org/home.html 2006-08-13
Boeing
Boise Cascade
Chamber of Commerces: Bellevue, Greater Seattle, Kelso-Longview, Pasco, Spokane Regional, Tacoma-Pierce County, Wenatchee Valley, West Richland Area
Modern Electric Water Company
National Association of Manufacturers
Peninsula Light Company
PUDs of Benton, Cowlitz, Franklin, Lewis, and Mason County.
Representatives Brian Blake (D) and Dean Takko (D)
Senators Jean Berkey (D) and Mark L. Doumit (D)
Tanner Electric Cooperative https://web.archive.org/web/20061205030821/http://tannerelectric.coop/site/index.php 2006-12-05
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Washington Farm Bureau
Washington Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Weyerhaeuser
Results
Washington Secretary of State 2006 Washington Initiative 937 1042679 972747
By county
+County resultsCountyhttps://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/results_report.aspx?e=134&c=&c2=&t=&t2=5&p=&p2=&y= https://web.archive.org/web/20260131190835/https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/results_report.aspx?e=134&c=&c2=&t=&t2=5&p=&p2=&y= January 31, 2026 live Elections Search Results November 2006 General State Totals Proofed · County Totals Proofed Reed Sam Sam Reed November 7, 2006 Secretary of State of Washington February 28, 2026YesNoMarginTotal votes#%#%#%Adams1,23536.33%2,16463.67%-929-27.33%3,399Asotin3,35147.06%3,76952.94%-418-5.87%7,120Benton15,92333.08%32,20566.92%-16,282-33.83%48,128Chelan7,07331.52%15,36468.48%-8,291-36.95%22,437Clallam15,24751.87%14,15048.13%1,0973.73%29,397Clark57,44651.77%53,51348.23%3,9333.54%110,959Columbia60832.85%1,24367.15%-635-34.31%1,851Cowlitz12,69742.24%17,36257.76%-4,665-15.52%30,059Douglas2,84126.44%7,90473.56%-5,063-47.12%10,745Ferry1,24946.40%1,44353.60%-194-7.21%2,692Franklin4,09332.95%8,32967.05%-4,236-34.10%12,422Garfield40635.93%72464.07%-318-28.14%1,130Grant5,38127.97%13,85772.03%-8,476-44.06%19,238Grays Harbor8,68440.28%12,87459.72%-4,190-19.44%21,558Island15,89854.37%13,34545.63%2,5538.73%29,243Jefferson9,86062.84%5,83037.16%4,03025.69%15,690King363,09359.61%246,00740.39%117,08619.22%609,100Kitsap47,39253.47%41,24846.53%6,1446.93%88,640Kittitas5,71947.91%6,21752.09%-498-4.17%11,936Klickitat3,74152.31%3,41147.69%3304.61%7,152Lewis9,50838.69%15,06761.31%-5,559-22.62%24,575Lincoln1,46832.23%3,08767.77%-1,619-35.54%4,555Mason8,99543.22%11,81656.78%-2,821-13.56%20,811Okanogan4,89039.31%7,54960.69%-2,659-21.38%12,439Pacific4,31451.65%4,03848.35%2763.30%8,352Pend Oreille1,89337.91%3,10162.09%-1,208-24.19%4,994Pierce105,09351.15%100,36248.85%4,7312.30%205,455San Juan4,76859.57%3,23640.43%1,53219.14%8,004Skagit17,57544.75%21,70155.25%-4,126-10.51%39,276Skamania2,12354.51%1,77245.49%3519.01%3,895Snohomish99,89750.18%99,16449.82%7330.37%199,061Spokane71,73247.63%78,85852.37%-7,126-4.73%150,590Stevens6,60139.88%9,95360.12%-3,352-20.25%16,554Thurston46,98057.07%35,34142.93%11,63914.14%82,321Wahkiakum75043.86%96056.14%-210-12.28%1,710Walla Walla7,00140.49%10,29159.51%-3,290-19.03%17,292Whatcom37,17855.45%29,87344.55%7,30510.89%67,051Whitman6,06547.90%6,59752.10%-532-4.20%12,662Yakima23,91145.17%29,02254.83%-5,111-9.66%52,933Totals1,042,67951.73%972,74748.27%69,9323.47%2,015,426
References
External links
Washington’s Primary Energy Consumption by Source https://web.archive.org/web/20061003013438/http://www.cted.wa.gov/_CTED/documents/ID_2521_Publications.doc 2006-10-03 (.doc)
Category:Renewable energy policy in the United States
Category:2006 Washington (state) ballot measures
Category:Initiatives in the United States