Get Active: CA Legislature Fails to Act On Climate in 2020

"Climate fires" engulfed the West Coast with the worst air quality in the world in September 2020

Heat records were broken across the West in August, straining the energy grid and causing rolling blackouts. Unprecedented wildfires then tore across California, Oregon and Washington, blanketing over 70 million Americans in some of the worst air quality in the world for weeks, and forcing tens of thousands to evacuate their homes. And all this amidst an ongoing pandemic and economic crisis. 

As Californians were experiencing in real life what climate scientists have been forecasting for years -- more extreme heat, drought, poor air quality, and wildfire risk -- the California State Legislature accomplished little of substance on climate issues in its abbreviated 2020 legislative session. Yet again oil, plastics and other industry groups were successful at stopping the few efforts at meaningful action on these issues, notwithstanding the fact that the scientific consensus is that things will NOT get better unless we act more forcefully. The price tag for this failure in leadership is shockingly high when one considers the long-term ramifications of further inaction. 

Below is a recap of how things shook out after the end of the legislative session on August 31, 2020. Passed bills now await signature (or veto) by the Governor. To help the bills that passed - including AB 1788, AB 1851, AB 2345, and SB 288 - get over the finish line, please submit notes of support to the Governor via this form. Brief comments are sufficient, just be sure to select the Bill number from the drop-down menu). 

• AB 1080 / SB 54 - Plastic Pollution Reduction Act - FAILED (by 4 votes in the Assembly) - Thank you Senators Connie Leyva, Bob Archuleta, and Anthony Portantino and Assembly Member Ed Chau for supporting this effort to address the single-use plastics crisis. SGV-area Senator Susan Rubio and Assembly Members Blanca Rubio and Chris Holden did not support this serious effort to tackle the plastic crisis. For more information on the CA legislature’s latest failure to address single-use plastics, see this media coverage here. You can also email your Assembly Member about the vote here.  
• AB 1788 - Wildlife Protection from Poisons - PASSED - Thank you Senators Leyva, Archuleta, and Portantino, and Assembly Members Chau and Holden for supporting this bill to protect pets and wildlife from poisons; Senators Susan Rubio and Archuleta and Assembly Member Blanca Rubio did not support this bill.
• AB 345 - Environmental Justice and Oil Drilling Setbacks - FAILED - Thank you Assembly Members Holden and Chau for supporting this effort to protect the public from oil drilling near homes, schools and other sensitive uses. Assembly Member Blanca Rubio voted against this bill.
• AB 1851 - Affordable Housing on Religious Sites - PASSED - Thank you to ALL the SGV-area legislators, each of whom supported this bill to reduce barriers to affordable housing on church and religious institution sites.
• AB 2345 - Affordable Housing and Density Bonuses - PASSED - Thank you to Senators Leyva, Archuleta, and Rubio, and Assembly Members Chau and Holden for supporting this effort to incentivize new affordable housing in California; Senator Portantino did not support this bill.
• AB 3030 - Conservation of Land / Ocean in CA for Open Space and Parks - FAILED - Thank you Assembly Members Holden and Chau for supporting this effort to protect 30% of open space in California by 2030; Senator Portantino and Assembly Member Blanca Rubio did not support this bill. 
• SB 288 - Active and Public Transit Project Streamlining - PASSED - Thank you to ALL the SGV-area legislators, each of whom supported this bill to exempt active and public transit projects from environmental review.

The team at ActiveSGV would like to thank everyone who took the time to call and email your State Assembly Members and Senators over the past few months. Those calls are important, and will be even more important next year. Momentum for action is growing in light of unprecedented fires, which are often followed by more extreme flooding. However before all that is an incredibly important general election. As the most recent state legislative session illustrated, who represents us at the local, state, and national level matters. A lot. Now is a great time to make sure you and friends and family are ready to vote. ActiveSGV's VoteSGV page includes lots of information to help get you started, including how to make sure you address is current, how to sign up to track your ballot, responses to candidate surveys, and ballot measure endorsements.