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 2008 Legislative Session Up and Running – Focus of the year will be a looming budget crisis and we won’t get away from talking about water.
As though concurrent Special Legislative Sessions on water and heath care were not enough to keep lawmakers busy, California’s looming state budget crisis prompted Governor Schwarzenegger to declare a fiscal emergency for California, triggering yet another 45-day Special Session. According to the Special Session guidelines, the Legislature now has until the end of February to pass legislation addressing the state’s fiscal health.
The Governor has also released his state budget proposal for 2008-09, which aims to close the expected $14 billion gap between revenues and expenditure, and issued recommendations for immediate spending cuts and other policies to cope with the funding shortfalls before a new state budget goes into effect later this year.
The biggest battle looms over what to do close the $14 billion gap. The Administration has asked all state departments and agencies to reduce their General Fund spending for 2008-09 by ten percent.
Natural resource agencies that are heavily dependent on General Fund allocations would be particularly affected, facing severe reductions in personnel and services. The most dramatic example is the proposed closure of 48 state parks throughout California.
The Assembly Budget Committee has prepared a summary of the Governor’s proposed budget.
The Governor is also recommending a fee on homeowners’ insurance policies to fund Cal Fire, the agency responsible for combating wild fires. PCL and our environmental partners are pressing the Legislature to ensure that land use decisions better account for risks like fire and flood by requiring developments in the most at-risk areas pay a higher fee than developments in low risk areas.
January 31st was the deadline for bills introduced during the 2007 legislative session to get passed out of their “house of origin” (the house in which they were introduced).
Unfortunately two key environmental bills, AB 1457 (Huffman) and AB 493 (Ruskin), have fallen victim to this deadline.
AB 1457 (Huffman) sought to increase protections for state parks and never even made it to the Assembly Floor for a vote. The bill needed to get out of the Assembly Water Parks and Wildlife Committee and feel just one vote short. With the ever-present risk of a toll road plowing through the San Onofry State Beach, legislation like this is needed to ensure we make sound decisions to protect the value of our parks.
AB 493, the “California Clean Car Discount” bill, would have directed the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to establish a system in which buyers of lower greenhouse gas emitting vehicles would have earned a one-time rebate while the purchase of higher emitting vehicles would have incurred a one-time surcharge. The bill would have provided for a 20-25 percent “zero band” of vehicles that would have neither a rebate nor a surcharge.
Despite the efforts by the bill’s sponsors (the Union of Concerned Scientists) and support from PCL and a broad coalition of environmental, labor, health and consumer groups, the bill did not receive the needed 41 votes to get off the Assembly floor. California needs a policy such as the Clean Car Discount if we are to successfully meet the challenges of global warming. PCL will continue to work with the sponsors and all the bill supporters to make this vision a reality.
February 22nd is the deadline for all bills to be introduced in 2008. We expect to once again see a flury of bills both aiming to protect our state's natural resources and taking aim at the key laws we have to protect our air, water, coasts, and wild lands. We will continue to play a leading role supporting the good bills and stopping the bad.
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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