OAKLAND – The California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) – the political arm of the environmental movement in California – released its annual California Environmental Scorecard this week.
North Coast Sen. Patricia Wiggins was among the legislators receiving a percent 100-percent score for her voting record.
The scorecard provides a behind-the-scenes look at the best and worst results for the environment in the 2009 legislative session.
Among the worst: economic fear and severe budget deficits dominated Sacramento’s attention this year. Environmental opponents exploited this fear to polarize the legislature, attack California’s landmark environmental laws, and secure vetoes of good legislation.
Only a modest amount of “green” legislation was enacted as environmentalists played defense to protect parks, oppose new offshore drilling and fight bills to bypass bedrock environmental laws. Unfortunately, even progressive legislators voted for some bad bills.
To compound the problem, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed two-thirds of the 15 high-priority environmental bills that reached his desk in the regular legislative session.
This year’s Environmental Scorecard reflects the governor’s record-setting vetoes of priority environmental bills which earned him a 28 percent score – the lowest of his career. This contrasts with his scores of 60 percent and 63 percent in previous years.
“The weak economy and budget deficits required tough decisions, but they also created opportunities,” said Warner Chabot, CLCV’s chief executive officer. “But, rather than seize opportunities to protect our natural resources and create clean energy jobs, Gov. Schwarzenegger rejected the vast majority of well-considered environmental legislation that landed on his desk. This is an unfortunate retreat from the leadership that the governor has often provided.”
The governor’s vetoes included bills to increase the state’s supply of renewable electricity to 33 percent in 2020; to prohibit cancer-causing chemicals in infant bottles and cups; and to prevent state park lands from being used for non-park purposes without proper approvals. His approval of three bills that undermine the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) combined to produce his career-low score of 28 percent, lowering his lifetime average score to 53 percent.
“This year’s legislative record demonstrates that environmental voters must work together to elect a ‘greener’ governor in 2010 – a governor who will maintain California’s position as an environmental leader in the nation and the world,” said Chabot, who urged Californians to join the effort to “Build a Greener Governor” by signing up on the campaign Web site: www.GreenGov2010.org .
Members of the state legislature were scored on 22 total bills in 2009. Senate Republicans’ average score was 9 percent, while Senate Democrats averaged 82 percent. Assembly Democrats averaged 87 percent in stark contrast to Assembly Republicans, who averaged 13 percent.
Three newly elected senators earned 100 percent scores—Loni Hancock (Berkeley), Mark Leno (San Francisco) and Fran Pavley (Santa Monica). In addition, several Assembly newcomers scored 100 percent: Tom Ammiano (San Francisco); Bonnie Lowenthal (Long Beach); Bill Monning (Santa Cruz), Nancy Skinner (Berkeley) and former Sen. Wes Chesbro (Eureka).
In other positive results: Several CLCV-endorsed members of the freshmen class of 2006 once again earned perfect scores and carried successful environmental bills. Assemblymember Jared Huffman (San Rafael) authored AB 920, which requires utility companies to pay customers for any surplus electricity they produce from solar or wind power—a change long sought by the renewable energy industry.
Huffman and fellow Assemblymember Mike Feuer (Los Angeles) jointly authored AB 49, which requires a 20 percent per capita reduction in urban water use by 2020 and requires agricultural water suppliers to implement a range of best management practices to reduce water use and use it more efficiently.
The bill became the template for the conservation portion of the comprehensive water package enacted by the legislature in early November 2009. (Note: The legislature acted on the water policy package as the scorecard went to press – the package was not scored in the 2009 Scorecard.)
