Remember when President Obama proposed a national 80% by 2035 clean energy standard back in 2011? He did so during his State of the Union address, and with the leader of the country discussing a federal renewables mandate on prime-time television, it seemed very encouraging.

Years later, such a law still hasn’t materialized, and truth is, I don’t foresee one passing our deadlocked Congress anytime soon. So, that leaves it up to state legislators to help keep this clean energy revolution moving forward for now.

Currently, 29 states and Washington, D.C., have renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which require regional utilities to acquire a certain percentage of their energy from renewable sources. Recent reports from national labs have found that the policies lead to significant environmental and economic gains, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says the standards have contributed to over half of U.S. renewables growth since 2000.

That’s no surprise, given that many utilities across the country are either meeting or exceeding their RPS goals. The consensus seems to be that renewable energy, whether solar or wind, is nice and cheap.

Some state lawmakers have pushed to build on past successes. Last year, California beefed up its RPS and Hawaii enacted an aggressive and historic 100% by 2045 mandate. More recently, the New Jersey Senate redoubled its previous efforts and passed a bill to expand the Garden State’s goal. According to the Maryland Climate Coalition, an RPS increase just passed by both chambers of the Maryland legislature would add about 1.3 GW of renewables and create over 1,000 new solar jobs.

Lawmakers aren’t the only ones who deserve credit, either; some utilities are stepping up their game. In Oregon, for example, Pacific Power and Portland General Electric teamed up with environmental advocates and other groups to establish a new 50% by 2040 RPS and to eliminate the use of coal.

Regardless, state RPS policies are always under attack, and when opponents are victorious, the renewable energy sector loses big. In 2014, Ohio passed legislation that froze its RPS, and it appears the law has stymied in-state development.

In a recent press release, Jason Slattery from Ohio-based solar developer GEM Energy explained, “There is tremendous potential for advanced energy in Ohio, but we’re not realizing that potential because the state is erecting barriers to its adoption. Our energy company is growing primarily due to projects in other states that do encourage renewables. We can do better for Ohioans and reap the economic benefits.”

It’s the responsibility of state legislators to protect current RPS policies, which have time and again proven to be valuable. Also, although over half the U.S. states have an RPS in place, that means there remain others that do not. I urge lawmakers in those outsider states to wake up and get to work.