August 23, 2020
As I have written before, this is one weird and frustrating legislative session. The COVID-19 pandemic turned the normally predictable and rhythmic schedule on its head. Good environmental bills fell in the wake of the new compressed schedule. Bad bills backed by moneyed polluting interests got new life.
Then a couple of glimmers of hope emerged this summer. Some persistent folks found a way to salvage two bold bills that could have a long and strong impact on the work Sierra Club does in California.
One of those is Assembly Bill 841 by Assemblymember Phil Ting. The bill is important for its content, but may be even more important for the way it gives tangible life to the notion that environmental quality and good jobs go hand in hand.
AB 841’s contents can be summarized in three simple sentences:
The bill will shift some unused public dollars that have been set aside for energy efficiency to public schools where it must be used to fix ancient plumbing problems and replace inefficient, highly polluting heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
It accelerates the process for getting utilities to install electric vehicle charging stations around the state and makes sure that the installers the utilities use have good training.
The bill’s result will be healthier schools, less water waste, reduced electricity demand, less air pollution from power plants, less tailpipe pollution from cars and trucks and good blue-collar jobs that pay wages that can support families.
AB 841 delivers on the rhetoric that improving the environment, peeling away from the technologies that support oil and gas, can lead to a just transition to good, high-road jobs.
There are some people who don’t like the bill. For instance, some electric charging companies argue that requiring utilities to use installers who have completed a training will add costs.
The training course costs less than $200, requires about three days of work time, and is available online.
We argue that good training avoids bad installation risks.
A second bill, Assembly Bill 326, by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi and Senator Ben Allen, can entirely improve how consumers get into electric vehicles.
The bill would allow electric vehicle manufacturers to lease month-to-month directly to consumers. The bill is packed with consumer protections, including some that exceed protections in current law.
AB 326 has the support of environmental groups and major consumer groups, including our favorite, CARS, which focuses on protecting consumers from unscrupulous dealers and predatory lending practices.The bill is sponsored by a California electric vehicle manufacturer, Canoo.
Leasing directly to consumers has a lot of benefits for consumers and manufacturers. The main benefit is being able to bypass the quirks and unpredictability of dealerships.
Last year, Sierra Club produced its second study of the consumer experience for people shopping for electric vehicles at car dealerships. Even in states like California, where regulations promote electric vehicles, the majority of dealerships don’t have them on their lots and place other hurdles to leasing or purchasing (like not charging the few that they do have).
Dealers are also notoriously tricky about their financing practices, which CARS has noted many times.
AB 326 allows consumers to start driving an electric vehicle without a big down-payment or long-term lease. If the bill passes, it has the potential to really accelerate electric vehicle use, especially by people who want to try the vehicles before committing to ditching internal combustion engines. It also has great potential for helping people with modest incomes make the switch to electric vehicles sooner.
Dealers are opposing the bill, which is no surprise.
But the time has come for a new business model so that now, while Californians struggle with the economic storm created by COVID-19 and the climate crisis, there’s an easier way to get into vehicles that eliminate tailpipe pollution.
These bills have just a week to get off of the senate floor, move to the assembly, get through committees, and pass the assembly floor.
We’ve sent out an alert for action on these bills for the senate vote already. But if you can’t find that in your email, you can still take action by calling your state senator and urging a YES vote on AB 841 and AB 326. After that, call your assembly member. You can find who your senator and assembly member is and contact info here.
Do that and these glimmers of hope can turn into real progress.
Sincerely,
Kathryn Phillips
Director
Sierra Club California is the Sacramento-based legislative and regulatory advocacy arm of the 13 California chapters of the Sierra Club.
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