Last year, Senate pro Tem-elect Darrell Steinberg submitted SB 375, the Transportation Planning bill, into the State Senate fully knowing just how difficult it would be to get the bill passed. Despite the Senate being a more friendly chamber for environmental issues than the Assembly, the bill only received just enough votes to move to the Assembly; however, it was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and became a two-year bill.
A priority bill for CLCV, SB 375 would promote smart growth development that would increase development near public transit, discourage sprawl, and ultimately reduce the number of people’s vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This would then reduce the amount of gas people would need to buy (because not everyone can spare an arm and a leg every time they fill up) and fight global warming by reducing people’s carbon footprints.
Now in its second year, after Steinberg’s many negotiations with various groups, the bill is edging closer to passing out of the Assembly, but it still continues to receive opposition from one key group: the League of Cities.
Today, the Sacramento Bee wrote an editorial in support of SB 375 and encouraged the League of Cities to drop their opposition:
Partly because of the way he has crafted SB 375, Steinberg has managed to assemble a delicate coalition that includes many builders, the League of Conservation Voters and leaders of the California State Association of Counties. He’s on the verge of passing one of this year’s most important pieces of legislation, except for a major holdout – the League of California Cities.
Last year, the League complained that SB 375 was moving too quickly. So Steinberg held the bill in the Assembly. Despite months of talks and concessions by Steinberg, municipal leaders haven’t budged much from their 2007 position, which suggests they are just stalling for time.
As some mayors should be aware, cities would benefit greatly from a state law that encourages developers to build in-town housing instead of the same old sprawl. Steinberg has tried to play nice with the League. But the time for niceties is over. SB 375 needs to pass out of the Assembly and go to the governor’s desk.
SB 375 would have a greater chance of passing off of the Assembly floor if the League of Cities openly supported it. Steinberg has been working tirelessly to get their support but has been unsuccessful thus far. For now we are watching, waiting, and hoping.
Posted on July 2, 2008 by Mike Young at 6:32 pm,
filed under
General
Anthony Rendon, CLCV Interim Executive Director
I’d like to introduce CLCV’s new Interim Executive Director, Anthony Rendon, who started June 16th and will be with us at least through the November elections. As we ramp up our general election campaign efforts, Anthony provides immediate and experienced leadership.
Anthony, who grew up in Los Angeles, most recently has served as a government relations consultant for the companies building the extension of the Gold Line light rail system through East Los Angeles. (His consulting work is on hold while he directs CLCV.) Anthony has also been a member of the board of the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters (LALCV), one of our local leagues, since December of 2003.
Anthony comes to us with a great deal of political and management experience, including his work on a variety of political campaigns and as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation in Montebello. Also, he was previously employed as the Director of Development for Refugio Para Niños Foster Family Agency, in the Development Department for AIDS Walk Los Angeles, and as a Development Assistant for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Anthony is also a past recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside in June of 2000. He is the author of several published academic articles and serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science at California State University, Fullerton.
We’re confident that Anthony’s experience and knowledge will help us in our work to flip several districts from non-environmental to environmental this November.
Posted on July 1, 2008 by Jason Gohlke at 4:25 pm,
filed under
General
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared on Sunday that Republican Presidential candidate John McCain was the “real deal” on the environment:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, appearing in a taped interview Sunday on “Meet the Press,” defended GOP presidential candidate John McCain as “the real deal on the environment” within days of taking a shot at the Arizona senator’s call for lifting the federal ban on offshore oil drilling as blowing smoke.
This after saying on Thursday (emphasis added):
Lifting a ban on offshore drilling will not bring down gas prices or solve the nation’s addiction to oil, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday….
“… America is so addicted to oil that it will take years to wean ourselves from it. Finding new ways to feed our addiction is not the answer,” he said.
Well, the “real deal” is this:
McCain’s lifetime LCV score is 24%. Continue reading "Schwarzenegger on McCain: “The Real Deal”?"
And so it begins. In 2006, when California passed its landmark global warming legislation AB 32, it was no secret that passing the bill wasn’t even half the battle. The bill was ambitious enough to make a serious impact but only if it was implemented correctly and well-regulated. Yesterday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) led by their chair (and former CLCV Board Member) Mary Nichols annouced their plans for implementing cap-and-trade policies as a means of reducing greenhouse gases.
In a media briefing, board Chairwoman Mary Nichols called the 99-page document “an ambitious goal that translates into a 30% cut in carbon emissions over business as usual,” adding that it might “motivate other states and the nation…”
“We’re encouraged that this draft acknowledges the effectiveness of market systems like cap-and-trade to deliver greenhouse gas emission reductions at a lower cost for California consumers.”
If California succeeds in reducing emissions from a projected 596 million metric tons in 2020 to 427 million metric tons, it will have ratcheted itself down to the amount it emitted in 1990, about 10% below today’s level.
This annoucement doesn’t come a moment too soon. While CARB was announcing these plans, a report was released stating the unimaginable: this year, for the first time in human history the North Pole would not have any ice. The culprit? The climate crisis.
Sadly, such news fell on deaf ears in the US where the corporate media hardly mentioned it and the Bush Administration was busy freezing solar-energy projects and preventing California from implementing its Tailpipe Emissions standards. Continue reading "CARB Begins AB 32 Implementation"
It’s the weekend, which means the Bush Administration’s out trying to gut environmental protections while nobody is reading the news. This weekend, while the press is focused on Scott McClellan’s testimony and presidential campaign flip-flopping from both candidates, what could have been a leading story was buried from the headlines: White House invokes executive privilege in EPA inquiry. Fortunately, the story was not completely ignored, but not enough people will ever hear about it.
This portion of the continuing epic confrontation between California and the Bush Administration starts last week. CLCV was treated to a special conversation with Congressman Henry Waxman, who as the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been the on the offense around the “mystery” (aka bonus treat to the automotive and oil interests) of the EPA’s decision to deny CA a waiver to enact stringent tailpipe emission standards to stop global warming. In the candid discussion, Waxman admitted his concern over the entire issue. Staffers within the EPA had all be in favor of granting California’s waiver and some even noted that the Head of the EPA Stephen Johnson was ready to grant it, as well. However, one call from the White House caused Johnson to completely change his position, deny the waiver, and publcly argue against it. “We want to know who he talked to and what they said,” Waxman told CLCV.
Of course, it’s not looking like that’s going to happen now. Continue reading "Executive Privilege Run Amok… Again"
Posted on June 20, 2008 by Jason Gohlke at 6:21 pm,
filed under
General
Arizona Senator and Presidential hopeful John McCain and his adoring fans in the press (his “base”) tell us he is a straight-talking maverick. A quick check of Dictionary.com gives these two definitions*:
“1. Southwestern U.S. an unbranded calf, cow, or steer, esp. an unbranded calf that is separated from its mother.
2. a lone dissenter, as an intellectual, an artist, or a politician, who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates”.
As far as I know, McCain is not estranged from his mother, walks on two rather than four legs and is horn-free, so let’s consider whether the second definition might apply to the Straight-Talker©.
McCain claims to be a different kind of Republican, a dissenter from his Republican colleagues’ consistent anti-environmental policies. A quick check of his 2007 voting record over at the League of Conservation Voters shows he posted a 0% record. Repeat, 0% support for the environment. To coin a phrase, that’s A maverick we can believe in™. Continue reading "Maverick Republican John McCain Calls For Offshore Oil Drilling"
