CA Legislature Returns: Updates & next steps to pass environmental priority bills

Today the State Senate and Assembly returned from a month long recess. Though it’s only the first day back, advocates and legislators are already very busy, and this quick pace is expected to continue for the next several weeks.

In June, I shared exciting news about the priority “hot list” bills of Green California – a powerful network CLCV Education Fund facilitates of more than 75 environmental, public health and social justice organizations. Together we work collaboratively in order to speak to the state legislature and regulatory agencies with a unified voice on issues impacting California’s air, water and natural resources.

At the time, every hot list bill that we supported that made it to the floor of the Assembly or Senate had been passed by its first house.

With the legislature returning, I thought it would be a good time to catch up on what’s happened with these bills so far, what we’ve added to the list, and what we expect for the coming weeks. (Click on the links in the lists below for more information and opportunities to take action.)

Signed and Vetoed

Though most of the bills Green California prioritized are still making their way through the legislature, two bills made it to Governor Brown’s desk:

• SB 2X (Simitian): Renewable energy – This landmark bill mandates that providers of electricity in California increase their supply of renewable energy to 33 percent by the year 2020. It had been a CLCV and Green California priority for years so we were very excited when Governor Brown signed this bill in April.
• SB 582 (Emmerson Yee): Commuter benefit policies – This bill would have established a commuter benefit pilot program to encourage employees to ride public transit, carpool, or bike to work. Sadly, Brown vetoed it earlier this month.

We’ll keep working next year…

Legislative sessions last two years so bills are sometimes held for the next year for a variety of reasons. One of our hot list bills was held for consideration next year:

• SB 580 (Wolk): State Park Protection

At Appropriations Committees

Most of our priority bills are being heard by the Senate or Assembly Appropriation Committees this week (actually, some are being heard right now, as I type). Any bill that has fiscal impacts must be heard in its respective appropriations committee before moving to the floor. All bills must make it out of appropriations by next Friday, August 26th. Here are the bills currently in the appropriations process:

Senate Appropriations:

• AB 42 (Huffman): Helping Keep State Parks Open
• AB 341 (Chesbro): Solid Waste: Diversion
• AB 376 (Fong, Huffman): Shark Fins
• AB 380 (Chesbro): Resources Watersheds
• AB 591 (Wieckowski): Oil and Gas Production: Hydraulic Fracturing
• AB 650 (Blumenfield): Blue Ribbon Task Force on Public Transportation
• AB 685 (Eng): State Water Policy
• AB 703 (Gordon): Preserving Tax Incentives for Open-Space and Parks
• AB 796 (Blumenfield): Clean Energy Financing
• AB 1221 (Alejo): State Water Quality Control Fund: State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account

Assembly Appropriations:

• SB 244 (Wolk): Land use: general plan: disadvantaged unincorporated communities
• SB 263 (Pavley): Wells: Reports: Public Availability
• SB 454 (Pavley): Energy Efficiency Standards Enforcement
• SB 535 (De Leon): California Communities Healthy Air Revitalization Trust
• SB 568 (Lowenthal): The Sustainable Take-Out Food Packaging Bill
• SB 833 (Vargas): Water Quality Protection in San Diego County

On the floor

One of our priority bills has gone straight to the floor, and within the next few days we expect several other bills to make it out of appropriations and to the floor. All bills must be passed off the floor of their second houses by September 9th. The bill on the floor already is:

• AB 1319 (Butler): Product Safety: Bisphenol A

Additions and subtractions

As the year goes on, Green California reassesses our hot list bills and adds and subtracts. You might notice some bills missing from the list that were on the hot list at some point, and that’s usually not because we don’t think the bills are important but because they might not need as much help as other bills. On the other hand, bills that were not on our hot list sometimes come to our attention, and we’ll add them if they’re important and need help. Recently, we added two bills, which both are currently in appropriations:

• AB 1112 (Huffman): Oil Spill Prevention & Administrative Fees
• SB 436 (Kehoe): Mitigation Lands for Non-Profits

We need your help

It looks like we have a busy few weeks ahead of us, and once these bills pass out of the legislature, they will all go to Governor Brown; he has until October 9th to sign them.

Don’t worry – there won’t be any pop quizzes on where these bills are at, what each of the bill numbers refer to, or what the legislative deadlines are. We’ll keep you updated over the next few weeks with regular updates.

But we do need your help to pass these bills through the legislature and to get them signed by Governor Brown. Please visit our take action page regularly or sign up for our action alert email list to learn when we need you to take action on a bill.