End of Legislative Year Action

From: Janet Cox and Fossil Free California’s Legislative Team

There is good news and bad news.

The 2017 legislative year ended on September 1 (make that 2:30 am on Sept. 2). And we survived—that’s the good news. But the 2017-1018 legislative session, where Democrats have shaky supermajorities in both houses, is only half over! That’s the bad news. Or maybe the good news! It’s complicated…

Results for the bills Fossil Free California endorsed or opposed are posted on our website.I’m not going to recap that information except to note that the two bills we worked hardest on were held in committee and will be back in January, likely with amendments. We will again be pulling out all our stops to pass

• SB 560, Ben Allen’s bill defining “financial climate risk” in statute and requiring annual reporting on climate risk to their portfolios by our state’s biggest pension funds. FFCA sponsored this bill with Environment California. It stuck in Senate Appropriations for unknown reasons, but Senator Allen will bring it back in 2018 as a two-year bill.
• SB 100, Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León’s bill setting up the state to achieve 100 percent clean electricity by 2045. The bill was re-referred to, and then held in, Assembly Member Chris Holden’s Utilities and Energy Committee at almost the last minute. We are bound to see some amendments in January. In the meantime, we’ll be working with Chair Holden and other members of the committee to move the bill early in the new year.

We’re not done with the other bills we supported that are now on the Governor’s desk…until he signs them. Thanks to your support of Fossil Free California, we now have a voice in Sacramento that makes a difference! And you do too. Governor Brown’s contact information is on the legislation page: Please ask him to support SB 50, SB 51, and AB 262.

With gratitude for all you’ve done this year to help—making phone calls, writing your representatives, participating in district office visits, and coming to Sacramento to speak to your reps in person and attend hearings—I have to tell you we’re going to need you in 2018 too. Here’s how you can help, in advance:

• Make sure we have your full address, so we can let you know when your Assembly member or senator is critical to passage of key climate legislation. Go to this page, and if the form asks for your address, please add it. (If it doesn’t, we already have it)
• Volunteer to work on legislation or another project we’re running—including getting more California municipalities to sue oil companies for damage caused by climate change.
• Send money! Organizing statewide isn’t easy for an all-volunteer organization, and we especially need focused effort in the Central Valley, the Inland Empire, and more conservative districts and parts of the state.
• Tell your friends about Fossil Free California, and urge them to join us.

Finally, I want to introduce Christine Shewmaker, who is joining me as co-chair of FFCA’s legislative team. Christine, from Woodland, CA, is a terrific organizer (and she is organized!) who has done a lot of good work for us in 2017. You’re likely to be hearing from Christine in the months ahead.

Thanks! And onward…!

Janet Cox, Legislative Team