California’s
Budget
The Governor’s budget threatens
key environmental programs and proposes to:
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Close 48 state parks including
17 parks, 17 historic parks and museums, 3
state beaches, 9 recreation areas, and 2 state
reserves. |
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Reduce lifeguard staffing at 16 state beaches
in Santa Cruz, Orange and San Diego Counties. |
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Cut Department of Fish and Game’s core
wildlife conservation program by 40%. |
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Cut 38 (or 10%) of the game warden positions,
and much more. |
Learn
More>>
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The Planning and Conservation League has sponsored three new important pieces of legislation for the 2007-2008 Legislative Session.
SB 1165, authored by Senator Shelia Kuehl from Santa Monica, continues PCL’s proud tradition of defending and enhancing the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), our state’s premier environmental law. This bill will close two loopholes which have allowed developers to scuttle public participation. First, the bill will ensure that the public has the ability to review all EIRs drafts just as developers and their paid consultants do currently. Second, the measure requires EIRs that are older than five years be reviewed before a project is approved. This will give the public an opportunity to identify new environmental impacts and needed mitigation measures.
AB 2153, authored by Paul Krekorian from Burbank will ensure water reliability and security by establishing water efficiency targets for new development and developing a funding stream to increase efficiencies in existing housing. This bill would establish new water efficiency programs modeled on California's successful energy efficiency programs.
Learn more>>
AB 2222 (Caballero) will advance protection of California's groundwater aquifers by expanding the scope of the state's Groundwater Task Force to provide necessary information and policy recommendations to the Legislature. Specifically, the bill asks the Groundwater Task Force to identify methods to clean up high priority groundwater basins and identify communities throughout the state that rely on contaminated groundwater as their primary source of drinking water. The Task Force will also outline funding sources for existing and future state and local groundwater programs and recommend ways to enhance public access to current groundwater quality information and increase regional awareness of groundwater conditions.
AB 2970 (Eng) calls for the Department of Water Resources to provide critical information about the reliability of water from the State Water Project (SWP). Currently, water managers that rely on the SWP, including those in the Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, rely on inaccurate assumptions about how much water the SWP can provide. This report will help to ensure that local water management decisions and estimates of how much water is available for new developments are based on a true accounting of dependable water supplies.
PCL will continue to push hard on several top priority bills introduced last year which have not yet passed. AB 224 (Wolk) ensures that water agencies across the state are prepared to adapt to climate change and that they have the information necessary to reduce their greenhouse emissions. SB 821 (Kuehl) directs the California Research Bureau to assess the effectiveness of the SB 221 (Kuehl’s “Show Me the Water” law), which requires that residential developments with at least 500 units demonstrate sufficient water supplies prior to approval. We will also continue to advocate for SB 974 (Lowenthal), the Clean Ports Investment Bill.
LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
PCL is sponsoring several key measures to address California’s water supply, water quality, watershed health, public health, air quality and global warming. We are also working extensively on several other priority measures to address air quality and land use planning.
2007/2008 ENVIRONMENTAL BILLS
PCL has identified hundreds of bills that can affect human health and the environment. You can find bills relating to the 18 different categories we are tracking ranging from air quality to wildlife habitat.
SEARCH LEGISLATION
This handy feature allows you to search environmental legislation by keyword, author or bill number.
FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE
PCL makes finding your state representative easy – just type in your address and we’ll let you know who you represents your district.
LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR
Learn about legislative deadlines, recesses and other important dates for the State Legislature.
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