Bill Allayaud
State Director, Sierra Club California

How did Arnold do on environmental bills in 2004? First let me give you a little background. He came into office saying "the environment? That will be no problem for me" or something to that effect.. Gov. Schwarzenegger went on to say he believes that a strong economy and healthy environment are not in conflict, which are nice words to hear from a Republican leader. When a group of representatives from the environmental community finally got to meet with him on August 11th, he said, "I am your friend". I wonder how many groups he has said that to? But, I digress. Schwarzenegger was a good listener as the various environmental advocates raised a variety of issues with him. He spoke out about a few and agreed that these items should be priorities for the State.

Meanwhile, since Schwarzenegger took office, he is piling up huge monetary contributions from corporations, has appointed a very mixed bag of people to high-up posts that affect the environment, came out in support of Proposition 64, which the Sierra Club strongly opposed, hurt us on the budget last summer relative to getting more fees from polluters, and pushed the Hearst deal through the State agencies. Most recently, it has been revealed that Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance and the Public Works Board are holding up purchases of any new park land, despite the fact that the State has the money to buy such land using voter-approved bond money. So, his intentions may be good, but his actions are not revealing him to be very "green".

Another measure of how Schwarzenegger is doing could be how much of his "Environmental Action Plan" he is implementing. This plan was devised when he was campaigning for Governor, the main author being Terry Tamminen, now Secretary of Cal/EPA. Schwarzenegger has been very busy with the budget, last March's election, worker's comp reform, etc. this year, so he didn't get too far into the environmental issues. And, to be fair, this action plan was not intended to be finished in a year. We can look for Schwarzenegger to introduce some kind of major initiative about housing and land use in his State of the State address in January. The hydrogen highway, one of his campaign promises, is not going away. Our hope is that Schwarzenegger will become more of a leader next year, and make it "safe" for Republicans to support environmental bills.

By the end of August, the Legislature had put a number of environmental bills on his desk for signature. While there were no blockbuster pieces of legislation this year, there were some significant measures that Sierra Club wanted him to sign. The result? A mixed record. Overall, his first year appears to be better than any recent Republican governor, but not as good as say Gray Davis's first years as far as environmental legislation is concerned.

So, your lobbying team in Sacramento will continue to work with Schwarzenegger's administration, pushing him to be true to his Environmental Action Plan, to expand that Plan, and to bring his party along on environmental issues. It won't be easy, given his fund-raising proclivities, the pressure from his party, and the philosophy of some of his key advisors. But, as David Brower said, "politicians are like weather vanes; our job is to make the wind blow." We are pursing our lips....

Here is a summary of key bills that reached the Governor's desk. The author and our position is noted along with what the bill does and whether Gov. Schwarzenegger signed or vetoed it:

AB 923 (Firebaugh) Support. This raises significant new money for the Carl Moyer program, helping to reduce emissions of dirty diesel engines. SIGNED

AB 2683 (Lieber) Support. Will repeal the 30-year rolling exemption that applies to the Smog Check and Smog Check II programs; therefore, cars built after 1974 will never be exempt from smog regulations. SIGNED

SB 1478 (Sher) Support. Makes numerous changes to the California Renewable Portfolio Standards Program and the Renewable Energy Program. VETOED

SB 1648 (Chesbro - Sierra Club CA Sponsor) Support. Reforms the management of Jackson Demonstration State Forest in Mendocino County. VETOED

SB 1369 (Kuehl - Sierra Club CA sponsor) Support. Increases the requirement for defensible space from 30' to 100' in the most fire-prone areas of the state. SIGNED

SB 391 (Florez) Support. Requires the perpetrators of pesticide drift poisonings to compensate the victims. SIGNED

AB 338 (Levine) Support. Requires CalTrans to use increasing levels of rubberized asphalt concrete made from recycled tires. VETOED

AB 1369 (Pavley - Sierra Club CA sponsor) Support. Bans sale of mercury-added thermostats for residential and commercial use after Jan. 1, 2006. SIGNED

AB 2901 (Pavley) Support. Requires the sellers of cell phones to take them back from consumers for recycling. SIGNED

AB 2093 (Nakano), AB 2672 (Simitian), and AB 471 (Simitian) Support all three. These bills tighten up regulations for cruise ships entering state water for air and water emissions. SIGNED all three

AB 2055 (Wolk) Support. Would strengthen the open space element in general plans, including emphasis on agriculture, urban parks, and habitat issues. VETOED

AB 2476 (Wolk) Support. Would have the Delta Protection Commission look at land use impacts on key resource areas. VETOED

AB 2572 (Kehoe - Sierra Club CA sponsor) Support. Requires water meters to be installed in Central Valley cities not covered by last year's bill, including the City of Sacramento. SIGNED

SB 1459 (Alpert) Support. Restricts bottom trawling in State waters. SIGNED

AB 2600 (Laird and Leslie) Support. Creates the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. SIGNED

AB 2918 (Laird). This bill deals with desalination of seawater and power plants. I included it hear because this particular bill was brought up at the CNRCC meeting Oct 2-3 in San Luis Obispo. Turns out we opposed the bill in its early form, but dropped opposition when it was amended to simply be a study. SIGNED