Speaker 3: Agenda Item seven Capital 119895 Relations Department granting authority for the Department to offer incentives program and the electrification of transportation for its customers, including the promotion of electric vehicle adoption and advertising programs to promote the utility services, incentives or rebates. And adding a new Chapter 21.53. The company recommends the bill pass.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Madam Clerk. Councilmember Peterson, you're the chair of the committee and are recognized in order to address this item.
Speaker 2: As you council president item seven on our agenda, the council bill 119895 and item eight and the resolution that we're going to vote on next, they go together as part of Seattle City Lights, efforts to expand electrification, as part of broader efforts to meet and preferably exceed goals in our city's climate action plan. Seattle needs to continue the hard work to address climate change and owning Seattle City Light enables us to expand opportunities to use clean hydroelectric power to decarbonize our economy, including throughout our transportation systems. Adopting the Electrification Strategic Investment Plan will build upon the collaboration between our executive and legislative branches of government, which includes the climate. Note that we recently passed to consider all new legislation through the lens of climate change, specifically, council bill 119895 amends the Seattle Municipal Code to accommodate recent changes in state law, allowing electric utilities to incentivize and promote transportation electrification. This is similar to the incentives that Seattle City uses to provide or encourage customers to make energy efficiency and conservation investments in their homes and commercial properties. I can also speak to the resolution as well, but I can also hold that until we get to item eight.
Speaker 0: Right. Thank you. Let's go ahead and hold out until we get to item eight. So for now, we're just addressing the underlying bill. Colleagues, any comments, any additional comments on the bill? Customers want this.
Speaker 4: Thank you. My comments are regarding this agenda item and also the following one, because the legislation in the two items is connected. This bill and the resolutions the Council will be voting on next are the legislation that is legally required by the state before Seattle City. Life can provide financial incentives to switch from vehicles that burn gas and diesel to electric vehicles that can run off city lights. Zero emission hydropower. When you compare Seattle to be Light, our publicly owned and operated utility to Puget Sound Energy, the private for profit utility that sells electricity generated by burning fracked natural gas in the neighboring cities. It is a very clear example of why public investments in the Green New Deal are essential to address climate change. The for profit capitalist market will not solve the existential crisis of climate catastrophe. Satellite generates electricity with hydropower, including from generators that were built as part of the New Deal in the 1930s. We need that scale of investment again in recent years to be Light has had many excellent small scale conservation conservation programs. Light bulbs have been affordable in Seattle, largely because City Lights subsidizes them right from the store. City Light has programs to help Seattle residents investigate where in our homes we are leaking energy to incentivize commercial building owners to install energy efficient lighting and air and to protect habitat land. In Eastern Washington. In recent years, City Light has pushed the Port of Seattle to electrify the Port one terminal at a time, one terminal at a time, and has built 16 electric vehicle charging stations that it owns and operates in Seattle to date with four more on the way. All of this has been possible because City Light is a public utility and these bills for transportation, electric electrification continue that work. The part of parts of these bills that I am most excited about are the transitions of metro busses to electricity and electrifying more of the port. Both are things that City Light has already been working on, but I'm glad that they're continuing in these bills. And I really wanted to congratulate all the. All the individuals and organizations in the environmental and climate justice community who have been pushing on all of these fronts for years. I am disappointed, however, that the mayor's office has not invested in more real resources into transportation electrification in Seattle rather than just plans. These documents are only a general plan, and the next step from here would be to write an implementation plan. And then after that, there could be new investments. In fact, in the mayor's budget, she specifically calls out the small city like funds dedicated to transportation electrification, but completely glosses over the fact that the budget lines that include transportation electrification have actually been significantly reduced since last year in our budget. My office has asked city council and just Jeff to look into this in more detail because there are parts of that budget line unrelated to Green New Deal programs. So, you know, we will have more to talk about at that time. But some of it is the funding allocated to Green New Deal programs that have on balance being cut, not increased by the mayor and the new proposed budget. So I will be voting yes on the two bills containing this transportation electrification plan. This job at satellite are extremely thorough and competent and the programs they implemented are effective and they implement are effective. And I also want to thank them for engaging with my office and answering the questions we had for this legislation. However, I just wanted to register my disappointment that there is not more real investment by the mayor in actually implementing the plans in 2021.
Speaker 0: Acute. Councilmember Swan, for those remarks, are there any additional comments on the bill? Harry hearing none. Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?
Speaker 1: Get a. I. Peterson.
Speaker 2: I.
Speaker 1: The one. Yes. Strauss.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: Purple? Yes. Lewis.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: Morales. Morales. Yes. And President Gonzalez.
Speaker 0: All right.
Speaker 1: Eight in favor, nine opposed.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Madam Clerk. The bill passes and the chair will sign it. Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation? Item eight. Will the clerk please read the the title of item eight into the record?
Speaker 3: Agenda item eight Resolution 319 71 relating to the city department adopting a Transportation Electrification Strategic Investment Plan at the City Department that will guide the development of the utility's infrastructure strategy and investment priorities related to the electrification of transportation.
AN ORDINANCE relating to the City Light Department; granting authority for the Department to offer incentive programs in the electrification of transportation for its customers, including the promotion of electric vehicle adoption and advertising programs to promote the utility’s services, incentives, or rebates; and adding a new Chapter 21.53 to the Seattle Municipal Code.