Update on CIPL’s California Priority Legislation:
“All good things come to [those] who wait,” says the Book of Proverbs. That is the case with state legislation supported by California Interfaith Power and Light this year. Our priority bill, SB 535 (Kevin deLeon) would have created a Community Benefit Fund in which disadvantaged communities would have been eligible for a portion of revenues generated from implementation of AB 32, California’s landmark global warming reduction act. Unfortunately, the bill’s author and the Speaker of the Assembly held political differences and SB 535 was held in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
A similar fate awaited AB 591 (Bob Wieckowski). This bill would have required oil and gas producers to disclose what chemicals they are using when they engage in hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” Fracking involves shooting high-pressured sand, water, and a mix of chemicals into the ground to break up rock and release the gas hidden inside. Unfortunately, those chemicals may contaminate groundwater. AB 591 was held in Senate Appropriations Committee and will be taken up next year.
AB 650 (Bob Blumenfield) would have created a Blue Ribbon Task Force on Public Transportation, an essential prerequisite to finding reliable funding options for public transportation in California. AB 650 would have appropriated $750,000 from the Public Transportation Account, already funded from the sales tax on diesel fuel. AB 650 made it all the way through the legislative process but was vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown.
CIPL plans to work with our environmental justice, clean air, and public transportation allies to pass SB 535 and AB 591 in the upcoming 2012 legislative session.
Public Goods Charge
The Public Goods Charge is a 1.5% fee attached to electricity bills. The funds are managed through the California Energy Commission (CEC) as well as the California Public Utilities Commission (PCUC.) The funds go to vital clean energy programs in the states, including research and technology development, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency programs. One such program is the Public Interest Energy Research, or PIER program through the CEC. It is funds such as these that have kept Califonina a leader in renewable energy and the clean tech sector.
The California legislature decided not to extend the fee, which is now set to expire December 31, 2011. Governor Brown, a strong proponent of energy efficiency and a sustainable economy, has asked the Public Utilities Commission to look at administrative ways to retain the charge. One organization that is working tirelessly on extending the Public Goods Charge is the Union of Concerned Scientists. CIPL supports the extension and the work of UCS. Currencntly, this issue is in the hands of the PUC.
Overview of 2011 California Lobby Day:
On June 15, 20 faith advocates from all around California joined CIPL in its annual Lobby Day. Folks from all over California – notably, a first-time contingent from Fresno, met with 40 legislative offices and representatives, urging them to support three pieces of legislation – AB 591, AB 650 and SB 535.
All of these bills address our goals of reducing global warming pollution, protecting public health, and supporting vulnerable communities in California. SB 535, the California Communities Healthy Air Revitalization Trust, will direct a portion of revenues from the implementation of AB 32 to disadvantaged communities disproportionately hit by resource extraction and climate change effects. The funding could go to programs like community cooling centers, which will be increasingly necessary as we experience more and more extreme heat days, and energy efficiency retrofits to save energy and money for low-income households. This bill is similar to AB 1405, which passed both houses last year but was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.
AB 591 will require oil and gas producers to disclose what chemicals are being used in hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” This process, which extracts oil and gas from shale deposits, is being increasingly used to expand production. Fracking has been implicated in ground water contamination in the Eastern U.S., as dramatically documented in the film Gasland, where a flame held to a stream from a water faucet causes the water to ignite.
AB 650 would establish a Blue Ribbon Task Force on Public Transportation to look into sustainable funding options for public transit around the state. The task force would be made up of citizen volunteers with diverse areas of expertise, from business to labor to finance. Public transit budgets have been slashed all over the state, and finding new funding options in essential for maintaining reliable mass transit in California.
A group of advocates met with Senator Curren Price of Los Angeles: from left, Mark Carlson, Andy Moss, Deacon Margaret McCauley, Senator Price, Betty Dean Anderson, Felton Anderson, Allis Druffel, Steve Fox
As with the national IPL Lobby Day, a strong take-away message was that representatives must hear from their constituents, whether they are in agreement or not. The message of the faith community was spoken loud and clear – that, contrary to any “self-interest” goals, the faith community works on behalf of the common good, especially those who are most vulnerable in society.
The fundamental basis for support of the bills, that is, faith-based principles, came alive in the meetings. Andy Moss, a faith advocate from Temple Isaiah’s Green Team in Los Angles, reflected that “Individual pieces of legislation – however complex in their nature and scope – became expressions of living values: the value of a common good; the value of transparency in public life; and the value of environmental justice.”
Faith advocates from Southern California, from left: Steve Fox, Deacon Margaret McCauley, Peter Bergstrom, Rev. Maria Tafoya and Andy Moss
