Disasters like the wildfires in Southern California have destroyed homes, displaced people, and are costing the country hundreds of billions of dollars to recover. It raises the question: how can we proactively invest to protect our communities from the impacts of extreme weather and natural hazards? Washington State has looked to answer this question through its Climate Commitment Act (CCA). Passed in 2021, it has generated and reinvested $500 million across the state to reduce emissions and leverage technology to mitigate harmful and large-scale wildfires and other disasters. We speak to Joe Nguyen, one of the legislative proponents of the CCA, to discuss the program’s impact across Washington State and how other states could adopt similar initiatives to keep their communities safe and resilient.

Joe Nguyen is the director of Washington State's Department of Commerce. He was elected to the Washington State Senate in 2019 and was chair of the Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee. He also served as vice chair of the Ways and Means Committee.  

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