2007 Scorecard:
- View the entire Scorecard in PDF format (2 MB PDF—Adobe Reader required)
- View a PDF of the scores (best for printing and viewing on-screen—Adobe Reader required)
- Snapshot of the Numbers: Assembly and Senate averages
- Read our narrative of the Year in Review
- Bill Descriptions
- Read the press release
ecovote.org > scorecard > 2007 California Environmental Scorecard
2007 California Environmental Scorecard
Bill Descriptions
Air Quality & Global Warming | Renewables & Clean Energy | Toxics & Chemicals| Water | Wildlife & Habitat
Air Quality & Global Warming
Green buildings: take the LEED
AB 888
Commercial buildings are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly through their heavy energy use. Thousands of architects and engineers have collaborated through the U.S. Green Building Council to develop LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines to improve the environmental and energy performance of new buildings; the Governor’s Executive Order also requires state buildings to meet LEED standards. AB 888 (Lieu) would have required large commercial buildings approved for construction as of 2013 to meet the LEED gold rating. Passed Senate 21-18; Passed Assembly 45-32; Vetoed by the Governor.
Our house is a very green house
AB 1058
Like AB 888, AB 1058 (Laird) would have made California a leader in green buildings. But AB 1058 focused on residential buildings, requiring that the California Building Standards Commission adopt green building standards for homes by 2013 that are substantially similar to those promulgated by LEED and other recognized green building guidelines.
Passed Senate 24-14; Passed Assembly 48-29; Vetoed by the Governor.
Better planning to curb global warming
SB 375
Transportation is the single largest contributor to California’s greenhouse gas emissions, and we will never meet our AB 32 targets without changing land use patterns that lead to sprawl, traffic congestion and long commutes.
SB 375 (Steinberg) establishes both fiscal and regulatory incentives for cities and counties to conform their general plans to required regional plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect valuable habitat and farmland through smart growth strategies like infill development and transit oriented development.
Passed Senate 21-15; Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
A better Valley air board
SB 719
In the early 1980s the air quality in southern California continued to deteriorate, yet the South Coast Air Quality Management District board was moribund. Then the legislature summoned the will to reform the board by increasing its expertise and authority. It proved to be a turning point in the battle to improve air quality in southern California. Today the San Joaquin Valley faces similar circumstances.
SB 719 (Machado) represents the culmination of a long-fought battle by residents of the San Joaquin to place more medical and scientific expertise on the regional air board and to increase representation of the most impacted areas.
Passed Assembly 42-32; Passed Senate 26-12; Signed by the Governor.
Cleaner ports
SB 974
Proposition 1C, passed by the voters in November 2006, included $1 billion to improve air quality at the state’s largest ports and $2 billion to improve their infrastructure. Everyone involved in the ports and their environmental impacts agrees these amounts are but a small down payment on the overall cost of needed improvements. Ongoing funding to meet these needs would be provided by
SB 974 (Lowenthal), which imposes a $30 fee on each shipping container passing through the Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland ports, with the revenues split evenly for air quality and infrastructure projects.
Passed Senate 22-12; Held in Assembly Inactive File.
Renewables & Clean Energy
Investing in alternative fuels and clean air
AB 118
California has taken several important steps to encourage greater use of alternative fuels in order to reduce our dependence on petroleum and reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. But
AB 118 (Núñez) takes a critical missing step by generating $210 million a year to support programs to support research, development and commercialization of clean alternative fuels and to reduce air pollution from vehicles. These programs will be critical to the state’s efforts to meet its AB 32 greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and state and federal air quality standards.
Passed Senate 21-18; Passed Assembly 46-31; Signed by the Governor.
Clean car discounts
AB 493
Don’t you wish there were a way to encourage the purchase of cleaner cars and trucks, help low income people reduce their transportation costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, using market incentives instead of mandates? There is.
AB 493 (Ruskin) creates the Clean Vehicle Incentive Program, a self-contained revenue-neutral program that establishes a sliding scale of rebates for the purchase of new low-GHG vehicles and surcharges on the price of high-GHG emitters. Unlike other state and federal programs that are limited to promoting advanced technologies like hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles, AB 493 will benefit buyers of all lower emission vehicles. Failed passage on Assembly Floor 35-35; Reconsideration Granted.
Building a better water heater
AB 1470
Just as photovoltaics offer an excellent opportunity to use clean renewable energy to generate electricity, solar hot water heaters are an effective and viable alternative to water heated by natural gas. And just as the state recently implemented a “million solar roof” program to help defray the cost of converting to photovoltaics, AB 1470 (Huffman) creates a $250 million program to encourage homeowners to install solar hot water heaters. Passed Senate 24-16; Passed Assembly 45-32; Signed by the Governor.
Heat + power = good
AB 1613
Combined heat and power (CHP), also known as cogeneration, is a well-known process used in industrial settings to increase energy efficiency by using waste heat from industrial processes to generate power. The high-efficiency benefits of CHP take on added value when greenhouse gas emissions are taken into account. AB 1613 (Blakeslee) takes a number of steps to encourage wider use of CHP, including in small-scale applications like schools and small businesses. Passed Senate 34-3; Passed Assembly 75-0; Signed by the Governor.
Carbon out of fuels
SB 210
As one means of meeting the AB 32 goals, the governor in January issued an Executive Order setting a statewide goal to reduce the carbon intensity of California’s transportation fuels by 10% by 2020. But like many EOs, the one on low carbon fuels needs statutory authority and more specificity. SB 210 (Kehoe) would have codified the low carbon fuel standard (LCFS), required the ARB to implement and enforce the LCFS, and ensured that the LCFS did not impede California’s efforts to comply with state and federal air quality standards. Passed Assembly 44-32; Passed Senate 23-15; Vetoed by the Governor.
Advancing renewable energy
SB 411
Last year the legislature and governor agreed to accelerate the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard to 20% renewables by 2010. With that date fast approaching and the need for long planning lead times by utilities and power providers, SB 411 (Simitian) extends the RPS by setting a 33% target for 2020. Passed Senate 21-15; Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Putting liquefied natural gas to the test
SB 412
Proposals to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) into California through one or more marine terminals are expensive, time-consuming, and controversial. For several years Senator Simitian has carried legislation to require a needs assessment and environmental review of LNG proposals before they can be approved. Ironically, if SB 412 (Simitian) had become law, the supporters of LNG might have gained certainty and saved money. As it stands, no project has been approved and they all appear to face significant obstacles. Passed Senate 23-14; Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Toxics & Chemicals
E-waste redux
AB 48
As electronic products proliferate, so do the toxic problems they create at the end of their useful life. California took a first step toward preventing the disposal of products containing toxic heavy metals by enacting an e-waste law, but it covers only TVs and computer monitors. AB 48 (Saldaña) would have prohibited the sale of a broad range of electronic products in California after 2010 if they contained lead, mercury or other dangerous heavy metals. Europe has done it. Why can’t California? Passed Senate 22-16; Passed Assembly 44-33; Vetoed by the Governor.
Safe at work
AB 515
The sad fact is that the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration has failed to promulgate rules to protect workers from exposure to a number of toxic chemicals that are known to cause cancer and birth defects, even when risk assessments on the chemicals are available. AB 515 (Lieber) would rectify that shortcoming by requiring OSHA to set permissible exposure limits for chemicals that are used in the workplace, that are known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity, and for which a risk assessment has been completed. Passed Assembly 43-34; Held in Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
What you don’t know could hurt you
AB 558
Chemicals policy in the U.S. is broken. In contrast to pesticides and pharmaceuticals, little is known about many of the 80,000 chemicals used in products and manufacturing processes. That’s a main reason Cal/EPA has undertaken a Green Chemistry Initiative. AB 558 (Feuer) would improve the state’s accounting of hazardous chemicals used in California and require companies to identify ways to reduce the amount of hazardous chemicals they use and generate as waste. Passed Assembly 45-32; Failed passage in Senate Appropriations Committee; Reconsideration Granted.
Banning cancer-causing fire retardants
AB 706
Brominated fire retardants cause cancer and neurotoxicity and have been banned by many countries and states, including California, in other products. AB 706 (Leno) would ban the use of brominated and chlorinated fire retardants in furniture and bedding products by 2010. Passed Assembly 46-31; Failed passage on Senate Floor 19-20; Reconsideration Granted.
No more toxic toys, or “Later, phthalates”
AB 1108
Despite unrelenting resistance from the chemical industry, the vast majority of studies show that exposure to certain phthalate chemicals is associated with liver cancer, reproductive toxicity and endocrine disruption. These chemicals also are used to soften the plastic used in many children’s toys. AB 1108 (Ma) bans the use of phthalates in toys and childcare products and requires manufacturers to use the least toxic alternative when replacing phthalates. Passed Senate 21-18; Passed Assembly 41-34; Signed by the Governor.
Water
Flood protection, part I
AB 70
When homes in Yuba County were damaged by a 1986 flood, a state court found that the state was liable for the damage because even though the levee that broke was built by Yuba County, it subsequently became part of a state flood control project. That far-reaching decision heightened the importance of making sound decisions about where to locate housing. AB 70 (Jones) makes a local government jointly liable, with the state, for property damage from a flood if it unreasonably allows new development in a previously undeveloped area that is protected by a state flood control project. Passed Senate 23-14; Passed Assembly 45-32; Signed by the Governor.
Flood protection, part II
SB 5
Hurricane Katrina focused attention on California’s vulnerability to floods. Last November voters approved Proposition 1E, a $4 billion flood prevention bond act. SB 5 (Machado) is the centerpiece of a far-reaching package of flood-control legislation. It requires the Department of Water Resources to prepare a Central Valley Flood Protection Plan and allows local jurisdictions to prepare their own plans only if they include specified elements that are consistent with the state plan. Passed Assembly 48-30; Passed Senate 27-8; Signed by the Governor.
Flood protection, part III
SB 17
In September 2005 the governor abruptly fired every member of the Reclamation Board because, according to some, the normally pliant board had begun to crack down on developers building in unsafe flood-prone areas. That act prompted SB 17 (Florez), which changes the name of the board to the more understandable Central Valley Flood Protection Board, increases membership to include an engineer, a hydrogeologist, a flood control expert, a water attorney and three public members, and requires the board to review local and regional land use and flood control plans. Passed Assembly 47-31; Passed Senate 25-11; Signed by the Governor.
What’s in your water?
SB 220
For a product that is so much more expensive than tap water, we don’t know much about bottled water. We know even less about water vended from machines. SB 220 (Corbett) strengthens the required maintenance and inspection of vended water machines and increases labeling requirements for bottled water. Passed Assembly 44-33; Passed Senate 21-17; Signed by the Governor.
Water fixes for today
SB 1002
While the legislature and governor remain tangled in an intractable debate about dams, reservoirs and delta conveyances, SB 1002 (Perata) took the common-sense step of appropriating $600 million dollars from Proposition 1E (the flood control bond) and Proposition 84 to fund a variety of water-related projects that would enhance protections in the near term, including emergency preparedness improvements in the event of delta floods, improved seismic safety at delta flood control facilities, improved stormwater management, improvements to small community drinking water infrastructure, measures to reduce ecosystem conflicts in the delta, and maximization of existing facility efficiencies. Passed Assembly 46-28; Passed Senate 26-13; Vetoed by the Governor.
Wildlife & Habitat
Condors dodge a bullet
AB 821
Taxpayers in California and the U.S. have spent tens of millions of dollars in a decades-long effort to save the California condor from extinction. Progress has been slow and halting but there has been progress. Wildlife scientists agree, however, that all these efforts are imperiled by the use of leaded ammunition to hunt big game, which condors then consume when they feed off the carrion, and that the condor will be lost unless we eliminate this exposure. AB 821 (Nava) bans the use of leaded ammunition for big game hunting in a specified range of the California condor. Passed Senate 23-15; Passed Assembly 43-33; Signed by the Governor.
Sucking the life out of fish habitat
AB 1032
Suction dredge gold mining is like running a powerful vacuum cleaner over a stream bed. The Department of Fish and Game has acknowledged in court that its suction dredge regulations are inadequate, but a promised review of the regulations by early next year has not been funded. To fill the breach, AB 1032 (Wolk) would have banned or restricted suction dredge gold mining on specified wild trout and salmon spawning rivers. Passed Senate 25-13; Passed Assembly 46-29; Vetoed by the Governor.
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