UPDATES ON ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS IN CALIFORNIA |
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How Does The Budget Framework Impact Environmental Protections?
The budget agreement reached by legislative leaders and the governor includes $15.8 billion in spending cuts, $14.3 billion in new taxes (including a 12 cent increase in the gas tax, 1% increase in sales tax, and .5% increase vehicle license fee, amongst others), and $10.9 billion in borrowing...(1/26/2009) LETTER: Legislative Republican Proposal Would Roll Back Air
Pollution Protection (PDF)
Like a doctor trying to treat a head wound with a leg brace, Gov. Schwarzenegger has applied the wrong medicine to California’s budget emergency.
The governor continues to try to take on our state’s dire budget emergency by calling for unnecessary, harmful rollbacks of bedrock environmental law. He wants to suspend California Environmental Quality Act review of some huge transportation projects – potentially suspending consideration of global warming, pollution and traffic impacts
That’s partly why he said he vetoed a legislative budget solution that would have helped save some 2,000 infrastructure projects statewide, even though that was the only measure with enough votes in the Legislature.
“The Governor is leveraging this fiscal emergency for reasons that are unclear but appear to be ideological in nature,” a “perplexed” Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg said Jan. 6.
What’s more, Gov. Schwarzenegger has said that federal environmental laws will still be in place to protect California’s environment. But he just wrote a Jan 5 letter asking the brand-new Barack Obama Administration to “waive” federal protections applied to roadbuilding projects – just as he has asked for a rollback of California laws.
Instead of trying to undo our state’s most important environmental protections in order to benefit a few, the governor must focus on the problem at hand. California's major green groups speak with one voice: "You Don’t Need to Pave the Environment to Pump the Economy."
It’s time to stop California’s budget malpractice.
California's Budget: Why It Matters
Do words like “budget” and “fiscal” make your eyes glaze over?
While the details of California’s spending plan don’t always make for riveting reading, the way the state spends its money affects the quality of the air your family breathes, the water you drink and how the state guards its special natural places.
How California’s leaders choose to spend their money matters as much as the legislation they pass. Read on to learn more about the budget – and how your voice matters.
Back To Basics:How We Work For A Green Budget
