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Climate legislation you can introduce next session.

Don’t start from scratch. Find ready-to-use climate policies from across the country and model laws that can be adapted and introduced in your state or community tomorrow.

Start with what you are trying to do

  • I need bill text

    Browse MCLI model laws

    Model legislation drafted for the Initiative, grouped by the policy topic each one sits under.

    Model laws
  • I need precedent

    See what is already law

    Enacted and proposed legislation, browsable by the type of governing body that made it.

    Jurisdictions
  • I am scoping options

    Find every lever on one issue

    The policy areas of Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization, and everything filed under each one.

    Policy topics

How this works

What is a model law, and can I just use it?

A model law is drafted legislation written to be adapted — text a legislature, a city or an agency can start from instead of starting from a blank page. They are drafted pro bono by law firms and individual attorneys, and the database holds peer-reviewed work prepared by professionals.

  1. Find the approach

    Search the database, or work down from a policy topic, to see the range of legal options on the problem you are working on.

  2. Read the precedent

    Alongside the model text, the database holds legislation that has already been enacted or proposed elsewhere, so you can see what has survived contact with a real legislature.

  3. Adapt and introduce

    The Initiative does not seek to determine a single best legal approach; the ultimate policy choices are left to the legislators and contracting authorities applying them in their own jurisdiction.

Working on a bill right now?

The Initiative's team can point you at the closest model text, and the newsletter summarises new model laws and resources as they are added.