ecovote.org > scorecard > 2009 California Environmental Scorecard
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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December 10, 2009
Results of 2009 California Environmental Scorecard Released
A Tough Economy and Exploited Budget Deficits Put Environment on Defense
OAKLAND, Calif. (Dec. 10, 2009) – The California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV)—the political arm of the environmental movement in California—released its annual California Environmental Scorecard today. The Scorecard provides a behind-the-scenes look at the best and worst results for the environment in the 2009 legislative session. Among the worst: economic fear and severe budget deficits dominated Sacramento’s attention this year. Environmental opponents exploited this fear to polarize the legislature, attack California’s landmark environmental laws, and secure vetoes of good legislation.
Only a modest amount of “green” legislation was enacted as environmentalists played defense to protect parks, oppose new offshore drilling and fight bills to bypass bedrock environmental laws. Unfortunately, even progressive legislators voted for some bad bills. To compound the problem, the governor vetoed two-thirds of the 15 high-priority environmental bills that reached his desk in the regular legislative session. This year’s Environmental Scorecard reflects Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s record-setting vetoes of priority environmental bills which earned him a 28% score—the lowest of his career. This contrasts with his scores of 60% and 63% in previous years.
“The weak economy and budget deficits required tough decisions, but they also created opportunities,” said Warner Chabot, CLCV’s Chief Executive Officer. “But, rather than seize opportunities to protect our natural resources and create clean energy jobs, Governor Schwarzenegger rejected the vast majority of well-considered environmental legislation that landed on his desk. This is an unfortunate retreat from the leadership that the governor has often provided,” Chabot added.
The governor’s vetoes included bills to increase the state’s supply of renewable electricity to 33 percent in 2020; to prohibit cancer-causing chemicals in infant bottles and cups; and to prevent state park lands from being used for non-park purposes without proper approvals. His approval of three bills that undermine the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) combined to produce his career-low score of 28%, lowering his lifetime average score to 53 percent.
“This year’s legislative record demonstrates that environmental voters must work together to elect a ‘greener’ governor in 2010—a governor who will maintain California’s position as an environmental leader in the nation and the world,” said Chabot, who urged Californians to join the effort to “Build a Greener Governor” by signing up on the campaign Web site: www.GreenGov2010.org.
Members of the state legislature were scored on 22 total bills in 2009. Senate Republicans’ average score was 9%, while Senate Democrats averaged 82 percent. Assembly Democrats averaged 87% in stark contrast to Assembly Republicans, who averaged 13 percent.
Three newly elected Senators earned 100% scores—Loni Hancock (Berkeley), Mark Leno (San Francisco) and Fran Pavley (Santa Monica). In addition, several Assembly newcomers scored 100%: Tom Ammiano (San Francisco); Bonnie Lowenthal (Long Beach); Bill Monning (Santa Cruz), Nancy Skinner (Berkeley) and former Senator Wes Chesbro (Eureka).
In other positive results: Several CLCV-endorsed members of the freshmen class of 2006 once again earned perfect scores and carried successful environmental bills. Assemblymember Jared Huffman (San Rafael) authored AB 920, which requires utility companies to pay customers for any surplus electricity they produce from solar or wind power—a change long sought by the renewable energy industry.
Huffman and fellow Assemblymember Mike Feuer (Los Angeles) jointly authored AB 49, which requires a 20% per capita reduction in urban water use by 2020 and requires agricultural water suppliers to implement a range of best management practices to reduce water use and use it more efficiently. The bill became the template for the conservation portion of the comprehensive water package enacted by the legislature in early November 2009. (Note: The legislature acted on the water policy package as the Scorecard went to press—the package was not scored in the 2009 Scorecard.)
California Environmental Scorecard Highlights:
| Governor: | 28% |
| Senate average: | 55% |
| Senate Democrats: | 82% |
| Senate Republicans: | 9% |
| Senate 100%: | 7 |
| Highest Scoring Senate Republican: | Maldonado (38%) |
| Lowest Scoring Senate Democrat: | Wright (38%) |
| Assembly average: | 60% |
| Assembly Democrats: | 87% |
| Assembly Republicans: | 13% |
| Assembly 100%: | 12 |
| Highest Scoring Assembly Republicans: | (tie) Blakeslee and Fletcher (33%) |
| Lowest Scoring Assembly Democrat: | (tie) Galgiani and Huber (48%) |
| Perfect 100%: Senators: Corbett, Hancock, Leno, A. Lowenthal, Pavley, Simitian, Wiggins Assemblymembers: Ammiano, Brownley, Chesbro, Feuer, Huffman, Krekorian, B. Lowenthal, Monning, Nava, Salas, Saldaña, Skinner |
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The Scorecard—a record of the 2009 legislative session’s most important environmental votes—helps Californians determine how well Governor Schwarzenegger and members of the state legislature represented their constituents’ environmental values.
“CLCV’s California Environmental Scorecard is an educational tool for voters who care about the environment and want to know if their elected officials are casting pro- or anti-environmental votes on important legislation,” said Chabot. “The Scorecard is also CLCV’s premiere accountability tool. In addition to fueling our efforts to elect a pro-environment governor next year, the Scorecard helps us make decisions about the legislative districts in which we will focus our electoral efforts in 2010.”
About CLCV and the California Environmental Scorecard
The political muscle of the environmental movement in America’s leading environmental state, the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) is the nation’s oldest grassroots environmental political action organization. CLCV uses sophisticated campaign tools to help elect pro-environment officials – and to hold them accountable for passing legislation to protect health, communities and the environment.
CLCV publishes the annual California Environmental Scorecard, which rates the actions of every state legislator and the Governor on the state’s environmental priorities each legislative year. To read the 36th annual California Environmental Scorecard and learn the scores of individual representatives, visit www.ecovote.org/scorecards/2009. The printed version of the Scorecard is distributed to active CLCV members.
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© 2010 California League of Conservation Voters. Contact us.
