CCL volunteers have generated 100 municipal resolutions in support of the Energy Innovation Act. See all of the policy’s supporters here.
By Sandy Simon, CCL National Resolutions Project Coordinator
One of the most powerful actions our volunteers are taking, even during the pandemic, is generating local government resolutions in support of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. We can think of local government resolutions as “endorsements on steroids,” since they are made on behalf of the entire population of a village, town, city, county or tribal entity and send a strong signal of support to our members of Congress.
As of last week, with the addition of the Town Council of Chapel Hill, NC, CCL volunteers have been successful in passing 100 municipal, county and tribal resolutions in support of the Energy Innovation Act in 25 states across the country. These local governments represent a total population of 21,567,912. From small towns to large cities and counties, it’s clear that local governments are ready to push forward on climate action, even under difficult conditions, and that they are asking Congress to join them by enacting legislation which puts a national price on carbon and returns the net revenue to citizens.
In addition to the 100 local resolutions which have passed, 16 cities and counties have endorsed the Energy Innovation Act by virtue of their mayors or clerks submitting an endorsement via the “Endorse the Bill” form on the Energy Innovation Act website. These local government endorsements represent a total population of 1,897,314.
Together, resolutions and endorsements in support of the Energy Innovation Act represent a population of 23,465,226, or just over 7% of the U.S. population.
As an organization, we can celebrate the successful efforts of our volunteers and chapters which have put a tremendous amount of time and effort into passing resolutions and generating local government endorsements. I believe the successes of our chapters in getting resolutions passed through their local governing bodies have far-reaching and long-lasting positive outcomes for their communities at large, including encouraging local communities to lower their CO2 emissions.
Resolutions are powerful accomplishments to point to when communicating with members of Congress and show a strong community interest in the passage of federal legislation. Our mission has been to build political will for a livable world, and we see that goal realized in these 100 resolutions and 16 endorsements.
If you know of a local government resolution that has been passed but is not as yet listed in the Local Governments section of the Energy Innovation Act website, please reach out to me at or .
To share your experience with other volunteers about how you achieved passage of a resolution in your area, please create a post on our Resolutions Forum.
If your city or county has yet to pass a resolution, you can view a 20-minute tutorial in Community on “Engaging City & Local Governments For Resolutions,” as well as utilizing resources such as an Energy Innovation Act resolution template in the Resources tab of the training.
