Press Release: Great Legislative Session for California's Environment

*Press Release*
Contact: Jenesse Miller, CLCV – 510.844.0235

California League of Conservation Voters: Great Legislative Session for California’s Environment

Numerous victories in 2013-2014 legislative session are a result of grassroots advocacy and environmental champions in legislature

OAKLAND, Calif. (August 29, 2014) - Cleaner air, healthier communities, reduced carbon pollution, less plastic waste, and more sustainable water management are some of the highlights of a nail-biter of a legislative session—the best year for the state’s environment in recent memory.

“From beating back a deceptive oil industry-funded challenge to our state’s landmark climate and clean air, to banning single-use plastic bags, to passing an historic water bond and the first comprehensive groundwater regulations in a century, this was a remarkable year for policies protecting our environment and our public health,” said CLCV CEO Sarah Rose.

Important successes this year include the passage of the following bills:

• SB 270 (Padilla, de León, Lara) bans single-use plastic bags
• AB 1739 (Dickinson) SB 1168, (Pavley) & SB 1319 (Pavley) regulates groundwater
• AB 1471 (Rendon) places revised water bond on the November 2014 ballot
• SB 1204 (Lara, Pavley) invests cap-and-trade auction revenues into zero emission truck, bus and other heavy duty technologies
• SB 1275 (de León) helps put 1 million clean, electric vehicles on California roads
• SB 1019 (Leno) requires disclosure of flame retardant chemicals in furniture
• AB 2188 (Muratsuchi) streamlines permitting for residential rooftop solar energy

Another major success involved stopping a variety of attacks against the implementation of California’s landmark climate and clean energy law, AB 32, including last-minute amendments and a gut-and-amend bill (AB 69, Perea). These threats loomed over the final month of the session as the oil industry attempted to halt the inclusion of transportation fuels in the state’s cap-and-trade program beginning on January 1, 2015. The funding for critical programs to clean our air, including several of the important bills above would have been jeopardized by such a move.

“Thanks to the support of our more than 100,000 members and activists, CLCV facilitated tens of thousands of emails and thousands of phone calls to lawmakers about priority legislation,” said Rose. “The grassroots-powered success of pro-environmental bills demonstrates that real voters, with real hopes and dreams for the future, are more powerful than polluter interests like Big Oil. This session reflects Californians’ values and our commitment to our environment, our public health and our future.”

The session was not without its notable disappointments, including the failure of a fracking moratorium bill SB 1132 (Mitchell) that had near-universal support from environmental and environmental justice groups, and recently, the failure by one vote of a bill, AB 1699 (Bloom) to ban polluting plastic micro-beads in personal care products.

About the California League of Conservation Voters

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. For more information visit www.ecovote.org.

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