Thanks to you, California Made Progress on Climate
The 2022 Legislative session concluded on August 31, and all of the tweets, posts, phone calls, emails, and texts that you made to the California Legislature made a big difference! Thank you Climate Activists!
With your help, 350 Bay Area Action helped pass twelve of the climate bills we supported. Those bills are now either signed into law by the Governor or are waiting for his signature.
We Have a Setbacks Bill!
After ten years of effort by a large coalition of climate groups and community groups, including rallies, demonstrations, two sets of failed legislation, and lengthy testimony at the California Geological Energy Management Division (CalGEM), we finally have legally required setbacks from oil and gas production wells. SB 1137 protects the public health of California’s frontline communities by creating a minimum health and safety distance of 3,200-feet between sensitive receptors, such as residences, schools, childcare facilities, playgrounds, hospitals, or nursing homes, and new or reworked oil and gas wells.
This bill is part of Governor Newsom’s “Climate Package” introduced late in the legislative session: taken together, the package (while it includes some troubling compromises) represents the most significant action on climate by the Legislature in many years.
A Few Highlights
SB 1314, No New Carbon Capture for Enhanced Oil Recovery, prohibits using carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology for enhanced oil recovery (CCUS for EOR). The dirty fuels industry uses this technology to produce oil that would not be recoverable otherwise. The use of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery is not currently used in California, and thanks to this bill, it never will be.
AB 2438, Transportation Projects and Climate Goals, requires that transportation funding programs include the strategies established in the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI) within their project selection criteria. Transportation is California’s single largest source of emissions, and this bill will finally help the state “put its money where its mouth is” in its transportation spending.
And a real heart-breaker: We worked really hard for two years with many allies in support of SB 260, the Climate Corporate Accountability Act. This bill would have required large companies doing business in California to disclose their emissions on a regular basis to the CA Air Resources Board (CARB). On the final day of the legislative session, SB 260 ended up just one vote shy of passing. The fact that the bill got this far — the first legislative session where this major climate policy was introduced—is nonetheless a victory for CA climate activists. This will be back on the agenda!
Other Key Bills
Here is a recap of 350 Bay Area Action’s other supported bills that passed both houses:
AB 1757 – Directs CARB to set up statutory targets and regulations for natural carbon sequestration.
AB 2061 – Requires reporting and improvements to EV charging station reliability.
AB 2097 – Prevents cities from requiring parking in new development within half a mile of a transit stop.
SB 379 – Streamlines rooftop solar permitting by requiring cities to use an instant online permit for standard solar systems.
SB 852 – Codifies the right of cities and counties to use property taxes as dependable funding for climate planning.
SB 1112 – Allows CPUC to authorize tariffed on-bill financing as a means for electrical customers to finance decarbonization upgrades to buildings.
SB 1158 – Fills a gap in GHG emissions reporting to provide more transparency and accountability of electricity suppliers in meeting their SB 100 targets.
SB 1203 – Requires state agencies to publish plans to reach 100% zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.
SB 1482 – Requires that new multifamily housing must offer an EV Ready parking space for every unit with parking.
A Good Time Was Had by All
The Legislative Committee is an energetic team that enjoys the work and the team. A special and heartfelt thanks to our Action Teams (Clean Energy, Eliminating Fossil Fuels, and Transportation) and the dedicated Bill Trackers who followed the progress of each of our endorsed bills. If you’d like to join this team for the next session, email info@350bayareaaction.org.
