If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu
Our EVADC chapter leads online training on how to craft the laws EV owners need… and guard against bad ones.
By Bob Erdman and Scott Wilson: Members, Electric Vehicle Association of Greater Washington DC
EVADC participation in hearing room at Maryland State Capitol in Annapolis
Electric Auto Association (EAA) chapter leaders from all over the country attended a recent training seminar to learn how to support EV legislation at the state and local level. A recording is now viewable.
Organized by EAA Vice President Elaine Borseth, the agenda included remarks from Borseth and EAA President April Bolduc, keynote speaker Plug In America Senior Policy Director Katherine Stainken, as well as representatives from our policy team at the Greater Washington DC area chapter. We at the Electric Vehicle Association of Greater Washington DC (EVADC) have been successful at advocating for progressive electric vehicle (EV) measures at the Maryland and Virginia statehouses.
Lobbying for a clean energy future
Speakers at the seminar pointed out the potential for direct input on laws that affect EV owners and that can help broader EV adoption. We are providing the following information as a resource guide to tap into this potential:
Initiate contact with policymakers
Getting to know legislators, as well as learning how to testify effectively, takes time and energy, but is well worth the effort.
Begin by identifying your city, county, state and national legislators at www.openstates.org, www.usa.gov/elected-officials/ and many others. You should also bookmark the site of your state legislature at www.congress.gov/state-legislature-websites, in order to keep track of bills as they move through the process. Many legislatures allow an online visitor to track a basket of bills and be automatically alerted with updates, and it is a good idea to calendar when legislative sessions begin and end so you can better plan your effort. You may also be able to follow relevant legislative committee YouTube channels.
It is a good idea to search for past and current bills in your state to check activity in your issue area. Select “Transportation” and “Alt Fuel/Hybrid,” and if there is activity, identify the sponsor and co-sponsors. They have the greatest interest in seeing the bill passed.
Volunteer to testify
An effective way to connect with legislators is to offer written or verbal testimony in support of their bill. Email addresses are readily available on legislator websites. It is best to be succinct in your offer to testify. Five pages laying out the advantages of EVs will likely not be read, only registered as “support.”
Remember that making the effort to testify is vitally important. Legislators know that for every citizen who testifies, there are many others who are unable to do so. And hearing from “regular citizens, especially EV owners/drivers, can carry far more weight than the opinions of lobbyists.Your legislature website should tell you when hearings for your EV bills are scheduled, and in which committees.
When drafting testimony, do your best to find prior examples. In Maryland, we are able to review the bills from previous sessions including the written and on-camera testimony from both ‘for’ and ‘against.’ It’s important to learn about both sides. Here is an EV Incentive bill from last year (see “Witness List” and the video by clicking on the video icon).
Know the language
You should know how to read a bill and understand what has been deleted and what has been added. [Text in square brackets or lined through has been deleted], while text in bold has been added. This is especially important after bills have been through hearings and amendments. That’s where the sausage gets made.
Know your state/city/community policies
The following are suggestions for information on these policies:
Gather information on issues
PlugInSites is an excellent source to keep up with legislation and planned legislation in selected states. It includes a collection of state, county and city anti-ICE laws.
For general ideas for policy makers at all levels of government, review policy documents from:
The most comprehensive guide to policy is Plug In America’s AchiEVe: Transition to EVs Policy Toolkit, which features content for:
Governor’s offices
State agencies
Legislators
Transit agencies
Regulators, utilities
Cities, local government
Relevant businesses
To learn more about road funding and gasoline taxes, this National Governors Association paper presents many possible solutions and does not promote an EV fee. You can also check an interesting discussion of mileage-based user fees and fuel neutral fees. ‘Consumers Reports’ has also analyzed EV fees and how to determine a fair fee.
Gather effective material
Need to convince a legislator who leans more to the right? Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) makes compelling points about the coming competition between China and the US to dominate worldwide EV sales, and how EVs increase US energy security.
Our EVADC’s Info Sheet, which we often append at the conclusion of written testimony, will resume yearly updates in 2021. It has proven to be an important educational tool for policymakers.
Review our new EVADC material for policy makers
This year we also sponsored the writing of The Far-reaching Benefits of Electric Vehicles, a white paper that pegs dollar amounts on EV benefits. We plan to reference this paper when interacting with policymakers to educate them about the less well-known advantages of EVs when it comes to health Impact, fuel security, economic development, and the electric grid.
Because many policymakers lack the necessary time to read a white paper, we have also produced legislative one-pagers summarizing the points. We have created papers using national statistics, as well as papers that specifically include statistics for Maryland and Virginia.
Contact Bob Erdman (bob.erdman@gmail.com) if you are interested in a legislative one pager with state specific numbers.
Read about our recent work in Virginia
We recently participated in lobbying for Virginia to become a Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) state. We invite you to view:
Generation180’s recent State of the State of electric vehicles. Written in preparation for the 2021 Virginia General Assembly, this report details the benefits of EVs, barriers to adoption, the policies we need, and how EV drivers can help. It is an excellent and comprehensive resource to help brainstorm, plan, and organize before your state addresses a similar initiative, Section 4 provides effective arguments for transitioning your state into a ZEV state. Other content includes:
The final report from a stakeholders meeting before legislation passed in Virginia in 2019 to study EV incentives.
The VA virtual town hall recording from 12/15/2020 with stakeholders includes presentations from experts from around the country.
A report on what a Virginia EV Rebate law should include
A report on the creation and funding of VA Bill HB 1979 Electric vehicle rebate program
Content that supports EVs from the Virginia Health Organization