Inslee’s First Bill as Governor: Start a Task Force on Global Warming, Greenhouse Gasses

Senate Bill 5802 has passed the senior chamber, and now heads for the House in Olympia.

The bill, the first one to be spearheaded by the new governor, would set up a panel with a representative from each of the state legislature's four caucuses, plus the governor. The panel would then hire a consultant and their task would be to determine the best way to cut carbon emissions and other gasses contributing global climate change.

The legislature passed such a bill in 2008 and according to the Spokesman Review Newspaper in Spokane, this bill would answer the question: how are we doing?

Inslee issued a statement Monday on the passage of the bill:

“Today’s bipartisan support for the climate action bill is welcome news. We’ve seen the impacts of climate change already affecting some of Washington’s key industries with shellfish growers moving operations due to ocean acidification and the farmers in Eastern Washington seeing reduced water supplies as a result of reduced snowpack."

The task force would would be set in motion by mid-May, with a report supposedly ready for the 2013-14 legislative session.