How Gavin Newsom could rescue his fast-eroding climate cred
The governor's signature on these bills will be instrumental in determining whether he is remembered as a climate leader—or a climate laggard.
Hello!
As we have noted previously on The Condor (here and here) for all of Gavin Newsom’s rhetoric and high-flown aspirations, California’s governor has offered precious little in terms of concrete, decisive action on climate lately. And not just that—his administration has, at times, been an obstacle to action; for example, it repeatedly attempted to delay the funding and implementation of the Golden State’s landmark climate disclosure laws1.
Happily for the governor, there is an easy way he can start to make amends—and illustrate that, when it comes to climate, he is actually willing to go beyond speechifying and act. While some climate bills didn’t survive their perilous2 passage through the state legislature, a bunch did! For them to become the law, all the governor has to do is whip out his pen and sign them.
From earlier this month, here’s our summary of the climate bills that made it (and those that didn’t):
And for some helpful context and explanations of a number of climate bills, be sure to check out Sammy Roth’s LA Times column3 from September 17, “Gov. Newsom’s got good climate bills on his desk. Will he sign them?”
Will he indeed? The deadline to sign (or veto) of September 30 is now less than a week away.
DEAR GOVERNOR…
From our friends at Third Act, here’s an opportunity to encourage him to sign five of the most important climate related bills into law. Click on the button below, and you’ll be able to send the governor, very easily, a quick (pre-written!) email4:
Email Governor Newsom and Urge Him to Sign These 5 Critical Climate Bills
Together, we have been able to help pass 5 critical climate bills through the CA Senate and Assembly. Now we need your help to push them over the finish line and get these bills signed into law to protect California's environment and future.
You did it! All five California bills Third Act supported have made it through both the California Senate and Assembly, thanks to your phone calls, emails, and letters!
There’s just one final step – Email Governor Newsom and urge him to sign all five bills into law before the September 30 deadline:
AB 1866 (Hart). Requires the owners of idle oil and gas wells to file a plan for the elimination and restoration of their wells.
AB 2716 (Bryan). Requires plugging and abandoning of low-production wells in or adjacent to a state park or recreation area in the largest urban oil field in CA, the Baldwin Hills Inglewood oil field.
AB 3233 (Addis). Reaffirms local governments’ longstanding rights to limit or prohibit oil and gas operations or development in their jurisdictions to protect their communities from oil and gas pollution.
SB 1374 (Becker). Restores access to rooftop solar to apartment dwellers and schools.
SB 219 (Wiener and Stern).· Ensures timely implementation of the corporate emissions and climate risk reporting bills passed and signed by the Governor last year. Corporate emissions reporting requirements are essential to holding corporations accountable for their greenhouse gas pollution. Now SB 219 is needed to guarantee the prompt implementation of these reporting requirements.
These bills represent progress on climate and clean energy from different angles and they passed the California legislature because of strong public support voiced by Third Actors like you.
So, please take just a minute to push these bills over the finish line and urge Governor Newsom to sign them into law ! We provide you with a sample email that you can personalize with why climate action is so important to you and your family - custom letters are more powerful!
The Newsom administration also proposed delaying the implementation of parts of the “setbacks” law, SB 1137—the bits that would’ve insisted on oil leak detection monitoring for fossil fuel drilling in areas close to “sensitive receptors” like homes and schools. As Julie Carter of CalMatters wrote on August 31, “[T]he Newsom administration floated a plan to extend the law’s various deadlines — by more than four years for leak detection reporting — because state officials needed more time to implement them. Environmentalists supported a two-year delay. In the end today, the Legislature settled on three and a half years, setting a new deadline of July 2030 for leak monitoring; the original law’s deadline was January 2027.” Read the rest of Julie’s piece here.
The fossil fuel industry pours lavish amounts into lobbying, influence and the campaign coffers of supposedly “centrist” Democrats. The result is that climate action gets stymied. For more on this, read the CalMatters feature “How Big Oil wins in green California.” It came out in December 2023, but the phenomenon it explores remains stubbornly with us, unfortunately.
Climate reporter Sammy Roth’s excellent twice-weekly “Boiling Point” column is available as an email newsletter from LA Times. It’s well worth subscribing to (and reading!), offering trenchant analysis, insights and updates about the climate crisis—particularly from a California and Western U.S. perspective.
If you’d rather give his office a ring (and if you’d like to choose which bills you mention!) please feel free. The Governor’s office can be reached at (916) 445-2841. Here’s what you could say (if there’s no answer, it’s totally fine to leave a message):
“Hello. My name is ____ and I live in _____. I am calling to urge the Governor to sign these important bills: [PICK YOUR FAVOURITES… FOR EXAMPLE, SB 1374, AB 3233, AB 1866, and AB 2716]. Together these bills will protect communities from deadly pollution, advance our state’s climate goals, and hold the oil industry accountable for its actions. Please sign these bills as soon as possible. Thank you.”