Uniform Climate Control

Part I will briefly recount the recent history of subnational environmental law in the United States and the scholarly treatment of it. Part II will do the same with the model- and uniform-law movements. Part III will focus on the most successful organization in terms of drafting and promoting model legislation at the subnational level—the American Legislative Exchange Council (“ALEC”). Because ALEC’s efforts on climate change attempt to entrench inaction for the benefit of its fossil fuel industry members, Part IV examines organizations and resources that facilitate subnational action on climate change. In doing so, it also provides a taxonomy of such law-promoting mechanisms. Part V begins to confront the federalism implications of the model climate law ecosystem, analyzing it first as a policy experiment in the “laboratories of democracy” mold and next as a way for policies to spread from one government to another. The work concludes with a hopeful prescription for more balance in model law advocacy to counteract the distortion of democracy caused by the current situation