Climate Change Policy Is Proving Difficult To Enact Even in Liberal States with Democratic Control
By Kate Aronoff
Democrats in Washington state this winter exploded onto the political scene. In November, an unabashed progressive, Manka Dhingra, won a special election that flipped control of the state Senate and unified control of government, uncorking pent-up legislation that had long been gathering energy.
This year alone, the state legislature has already:
- Passed automatic and same-day voting registration
- Implemented protections for transgender students in public schools
- Banned gay conversion therapy
- Beefed up the state’s campaign finance rules
In January, Gov. Jay Inslee announced he had hired staff to oversee agency enforcement of an executive order he signed last year, affirming the state’s commitment to provide services to Washingtonians regardless of immigration or legal status, and that it “will not use agency resources to assist with creation of a registry based on religion or apprehension of persons for civil immigration infractions.”
All this progressive energy seemed to bode well for a top priority issue for Inslee and the voters who put Democrats into power: combating climate change.
