My home state of Illinois recently made an important choice.

As we build out the power generation of the future, we can do it in a way that helps working people or we can do it the wrong way.

This January, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act because we don’t have to make a choice between meeting the needs of a power-hungry economy and meeting the needs of working families.

The new law lifts the moratorium on new nuclear. It lowers the minimum threshold for power project PLAs from 5 megawatts to 3. It slams shut loopholes that allowed developers to pretend one project was two or three to get around labor protections. It streamlines siting and permitting and accelerated grid modernization. And it puts union workers at the heart of all of it.

You can read more about this law in the story “Illinois Passes Labor-Friendly Energy Reform” of this issue.

For all of the victories this means for working families, electricity customers and grid reliability in Illinois, it didn’t have to come down to this.

There was a national vision for energy in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. We didn’t love all of it, but it was a comprehensive plan that put union labor at its heart. President Trump and the Republican Congress tore it up and didn’t replace it.

I wish we didn’t have to set national energy policy state by state, but choosing chaos by having no plan is just reckless.

We have built an exceptional relationship with the political leadership in Springfield. The executive and the Legislature listen to us and take our concerns and our proposals seriously. The results are there to see.

It isn’t going to work out so well everywhere, though.

Texas so far is choosing the fastest and cheapest way to get more electrons on the grid. It is choosing renewables matched with batteries built by throngs of low-paid, ill-trained, disempowered nonunion workers.

It’s a tragedy for them and a future Illinois was determined to avoid.

In both states, developers are building new power generation. In Illinois, working families will have the money to pay their utility bills.

Your state could choose to fill the federal void with pro-worker energy policy, too.

I am not suggesting that Illinois’ specific solution will be right for your state. I am affirming that solutions with labor at the center are both possible and necessary. We can improve the reliability of the grid, increase generation and pay a wage that supports thriving communities.

And if you are not already, you should be waving that banner in your state.