Arizona State University
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

Arizona State University has an Office of Federal Relations which is a part of the President’s office and is charged with advocacy efforts with the federal government. We are a major research enterprise and are engaged with policy makers on many issues that would fall under a “sustainability” heading. We are very active in pushing for multiple issues areas in the various appropriations subcommittees and authorization committees. For example, we have in the past and continue to advocate for funding key funding streams such as energy innovation hubs, energy frontier research centers, funding for the Department of Energy’s office of science, and ARPA-E and others. We are advocating for issues falling in USDA’s jurisdiction such as biomass research and development and at NIST we are advocating for programs such as the Technology Innovation Program. We have been active in advocating for the America Clean Energy Research fund. We have been very active in working with multiple delegations in advancing authorization bills such as the Higher Education Sustainability Act, and bills such as those focusing on e-waste or “end-of-life electronics” to name just a couple. We have also been very active with policy issues such as those being addressed by the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment group. ASU advocacy efforts at the federal level also involve working through many different higher education associations and organizations that share our desire to see sustainability advance in Washington. We have made an investment in an ASU-DC presence with an office where teaching, policy work and federal advocacy work are carried out.