WA State Senate passed clean fuel standard

The Washington State Senate last night passed a clean fuel standard bill that would reduce emissions and provide health and economic benefits for the state. Here’s what you need to know. 

ICYMI: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee proposed a low-carbon fuel standard in his 2021-2023 budget, which would limit carbon in transportation fuels 10% by 2028 and 20% by 2035—or allow producers to purchase carbon credits. The bill passed the Washington State House last month—and as a priority for the Democratic caucus, had the best chance of passing since it was first considered four years ago.

The Washington State Senate voted on the measure last night—and the bill will now go to conference committee where the differences between the House and Senate bills will need to be reconciled. 

Clean fuel standards reduce emissions. With a clean fuel standard, California reduced 38 million tons of carbon pollution since 2011, while Oregon reduced 3.1 million tons of greenhouse gases in just four years.

They’re also good for public health. California’s standard avoided $1.6 billion in public health spending—and as we’re seeing more links between air pollution and disease and death, reducing carbon emissions is a health imperative, too.

If that’s not enough, the standard would boost the economy—making Washington an appealing location for biofuel companies to develop climate-friendly fuels, creating high-paying jobs, and generating more revenue to fund the programs and projects important to Washingtonians. The bill has gained support from the private sector including Amazon.

Catch up on all the latest from last night's historic step in establishing Washington State's clean fuel future.

Kevin Herrick was inspired to work in biotech because of his high school Vo-Ag teacher, who cultivated his curiosity about science and agriculture.

That curiosity turned into a fulfilling career exploring technologies that will advance agricultural sustainability for our future.

As director of technical services at POET, he researches how to produce high-quality protein to feed a growing population in a sustainable way.

Watch Kevin’s story.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is proposing rules changes that would reaffirm our understanding of the Bayh-Dole Act and encourage commercial development of new medical innovations. Here’s what BIO has to say about the proposal. 

As background, the bipartisan 1980 Bayh-Dole Act:

• Empowers universities, small businesses, and non-profit institutions to take ownership of inventions made with federally funded research, so they can license these inventions for further R&D and public use.
• Encourages the private-sector investment needed to turn basic government-funded research into tested and approved products that benefit Americans. 

The success of the Bayh-Dole Act is clear. The law fueled a vibrant innovation sector that, between 1996 and 2017, led to the development of more than 200 new drugs and vaccines and 5.9 million jobs, among other successes.

But some want the federal government to wrongly use it to “march in” and seize the patents on these drugs, sending “a chilling message to companies in every industry—don’t bother investing billions of R&D dollars to turn federally funded inventions into real-life, market-ready products, since the government will just steal the fruit of your labor,” wrote David Winwood, an expert in university technology transfer, in The Washington Times last year. 

BIO’s recommendations to NIST in a nutshell:

• Clearly state that “march-in rights” will only be exercised based on the four specific grounds spelled out in the initial act.
• Clearly state that “march-in-rights” will only be exercised after sufficient factfinding, and only when there is no other way to ensure that a patent is used effectively.

“The policy embodied in the Bayh-Dole Act delivers an excellent return to the taxpayers on their investment,” says BIO. “In the response to the COVID-19 pandemic alone, of the more than 840 unique active compounds currently in development today, approximately half are being developed by companies based here in the United Sates.” 

Read BIO’s full submission to NIST.

Want to know what’s in the COVID-19 pipeline? Check out the BIO COVID-19 Therapeutic Development Tracker.

President Biden’s Friday: The COVID-19 Response Team will give a briefing at 11 AM ET, then Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will join a press briefing at 12:30 PM ET. 

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Another Friday in recess. Enjoy the weekend.