Still alive: California's Environmental Legislation

Despite California’s continuing fiscal crisis, CLCV and the CLCV Education Fund-led Green California (a coalition of over 60 environmental, health, and justice organizations) are still hopeful about environmental progress in the current legislative session. Many important environmental bills are continuing to make their way through the legislature.

CLCV has been most active on the following key bills:

• Renewable Energy: Two bills, AB 64 (Krekorian) and SB 14 (Simitian), would increase the amount of energy California is required to purchase from renewable sources like solar and wind to 33% of total energy purchased by 2020. A strong and enforceable Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is critical to achieving the state’s global warming goals under AB 32 and would pave the way for California to dramatically increase production of renewable energy here at home, jump-start our lagging economy and create millions of new, green jobs.

• State Parks: Two bills, SB 372 (Kehoe) and SB 679 (Wolk), would protect state parks from inappropriate developments and ensure that this vital part of California’s infrastructure is maintained for the benefit of all Californians. SB 372 would require that any proposed modification of a state park get approval from the state Park and Recreation Commission. SB 679 would require that land acquired for the state park system may not be used for non-park uses without the express authority of an act of the legislature, and without a plan to replace those park lands with lands of equal environmental and fair market value.

• Water: A package of five bills addressing different aspects of the state’s water supply woes is now making its way through the legislature. The much-anticipated “Delta package” would dramatically change the governance structure for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and increase conservation measures throughout the state. The language of these five bills was only made available to the public in early August, and the size and scope of the policy contained therein has some advocates crying foul in a bid for more transparent policymaking on issues of such enormous consequence. CLCV is working with our colleagues to analyze the bills and work toward a plausible Delta solution that ensures access to clean water for people and ecosystems.

• Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Products: SB 772 (Leno) would remove a requirement to treat baby cribs and other products with highly-toxic fire retardants (which, in addition to being toxic, also happen to be ineffectual). SB 797 (Pavley) would ban the use of bisphenol-A in children’s cups, bottles, and other food delivery containers.

In these last two weeks of the legislative session, we are working to get these bills through the Assembly and the Senate and to the governor's desk. On their way, the bills will have passed through both houses' Appropriations Committees, where bills are evaluated for their fiscal impact on the state. In these difficult times, environmentalists have done everything possible to make sure costs are low while still addressing some of the most pressing environmental and health concerns.

The legislature returned from summer recess on August 17 and we are working hard to make sure our priority legislation makes it onto Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk by September 11—and that the Governor signs these important bills into law.

You can help between now and the governor's signing deadline on October 11th by keeping an eye on our action alerts and contacting your legislators and (after September 11) the governor.

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