By Kathryn Phillips
It is bill signing and vetoing time and by October 15 we will know which of the bills we have supported or opposed got signed or vetoed by Governor Brown.
One of the key bills we've been supporting, AB 262, the Buy Clean California Act, is still awaiting a decision. The bill would establish a new path for the state to reduce climate change pollution by setting up a system to make sure procurement agencies don't buy certain goods from the most polluting factories in the world. It's a bill that has the state spend taxpayer funds in a way that's consistent with our climate pollution reduction goals.
The bill lines up with an executive order the governor signed in 2015, but that key procurement agencies have ignored. Now those same agencies are telling the governor not to sign the bill because it makes more sense to implement the excutive order administratively. Huh?
The bill had bipartisan support in the legislature and the support list from organizations is a who's-who of enviro, ej, and labor. We also had support from manufacturers, including California manufacturers who, because of the state's laws and regulations and electricity mix, are among the least polluting in the world. Additionally, some of the most prominent climate change policy experts in the state and world have weighed in with the governor's office in support of the bill.
Throughout the campaign for the bill, Sierra Club activists have been helping push it along, including by meeting with legislators in district. As soon as the legislative session was over, we delivered more than 5,000 messages from Club members supporting AB 262. Thanks to every one of those activists for helping to get this bill this far.
Nevertheless, we have no idea where the governor will land on the bill. His staff is sending no signals.
So we wait.
It is, indeed, a nail biter.
Kathryn Phillips is Director of Sierra Club California