Calif. billionaire backing Washington climate change effort
Published 1:16 pm Friday, December 18, 2015
SEATTLE — Campaign records show that California billionaire Tom Steyer has donated $80,000 to a planned Washington state ballot initiative to tackle climate change.
The Seattle Times reported that Steyer’s group, NextGen Climate Action, is backing the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy.
The coalition of environmental, labor and social justice groups is working to put a measure to voters to limit greenhouse gas emissions and impose new fees on carbon pollution. Money raised would go to clean-energy projects, low-income communities and other causes.
The measure is still being finalized. Backers must gather 246,372 valid signatures from registered voters by July to qualify for the November 2016 ballot.
A competing effort, Initiative 732, would tax carbon pollution while cutting other taxes. If lawmakers don’t act, it would go on the 2016 ballot. Campaign records show the I-732 campaign has raised nearly $700,000.
