Daniel Yost and Paul Brody committed $100,000 over four years to the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, or CLEE, to spur climate change action among state policymakers.

Executive Director of CLEE Louise Bedsworth said the gift led to the creation of the Sacramento Briefing Series, which she leads with the help of CLEE’s research staff and administrative team.

“We feel this is just a really opportune time, especially in Sacramento where we have strong policy frameworks,” Bedsworth said. “We have a lot of political support for taking action on climate and the environment. This seems like a really good time to be building this out.”

The series will allow CLEE researchers to present their findings to Sacramento policymakers with the intention of creating new policies to promote electric vehicles, decarbonization, resilient water systems and more. In addition to formal briefings, Bedsworth said greater interaction with lawmakers through smaller conversations will lead more of CLEE’s work to be reflected in policies.

Bedsworth said CLEE hopes to take after the state’s “robust policy framework.” According to Berkeley Law, California has played a leading role in the U.S. in combating environmental concerns and implementing environmental policies.

“A number of us at CLEE have worked in state government, myself included, and know there’s a real value in developing that face-to-face connection, you know, really being able to sit down and share findings and results and learn from one another,” Bedsworth said. “We really wanted to find a way we could make that a more regular part of our practice here at CLEE.”

CLEE has worked with lawmakers in the past, however the Sacramento Briefing Series allows for a closer, more formalized relationship. Bedsworth emphasized designing content for policymakers and providing research to directly advise them.

The Sacramento Briefing Series plans to include research and input from Berkeley Law in addition to CLEE, according to Bedsworth. She hopes additional partners on and off campus will be brought in to collaborate in order to create the most informative resources for policymakers.

“We’re really excited to get it started and really excited to work with folks across campus to make it as impactful as possible,” Bedsworth said.