A governor has many tools beyond the pen used to sign and veto bills, including appointments, executive orders, the annual budget proposed to the Legislature, and the vigor with which his administration carries out existing laws. Moreover, the governor is seen as the leader of the state and, as a result, can influence public opinion and help promote an agenda of environmental protection.
CLCV has tracked the performance of the legislature and the governor since 1972. Here are the last 35 years of governors’ actions on the environment, in a nutshell:
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Jerry Brown: 1975 to 1982
Average Score: 86%
1975: 70%
Highlight: signed AB 918 (Warren) requiring CALTRANS to establish carpool lanes on major freeways in metropolitan areas
1976: 94%
Highlight: signed a number of bills protecting California’s coastline and fortifying the state Coastal Commission and Coastal Conservancy
1977: 100%
Highlight: signed SB 153 (Dunlap) banning the sale of ozone layer-damaging aerosol propellants
1978: 100%
Highlight: signed AB 3247 (Calvo) establishing a solar loan program for residences and businesses
1979: 80%
Highlight: signed SB 1183 (Garamendi) developing an emergency plan for the worst possible nuclear accident – a core meltdown in an operating reactor
1980: 100%
Highlight: signed AB 2973 (Vasconcellos) creating the $120 million Energy Resources Fund from tidelands oil revenue to fund alternative energy and natural resources investments
1981: 80%
Highlight: signed AB 784 (Bosco) strengthening the Energy Tax Credit Provisions
1982: 63%
Highlight: signed SB 33 (Preseley) requiring motorists to have smog checks once every two years
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George Deukmejian: 1983 to 1990
Average Score: 46%
1983: 46%
Highlight: signed a number of bills addressing toxins in the environment including SB 55 (Robert) which implemented a program to reduce acid rain and fog in Southern California
1984: 40%
Highlights/lowlights: gave a mixed performance on toxins, signing some good bills like SB 950 (Petris) enacting the Birth Defect Prevention Act while vetoing other important bills like AB 3097 (Connelly) which would have added 120 internationally-recognized carcinogens to the list of regulated chemicals in the workplace
1985: 33%
Highlight: signed AB 2021 (Connelly) restricting the use of any pesticides which are found to contaminate ground water supplies and which pose health hazards
1986: 67%
Highlight: signed AB 4044 (Farr) holding oil companies drilling offshore responsible for the costs of rehabilitating and cleaning up marine wildlife damaged by spills
1987: 56%
Highlight: signed AB 2448 (Eastin) establishing a state Superfund to mitigate the problems associated with the closure of toxic sites
1988: 40%
Highlight: signed AB 2595 (Sher) creating the landmark California Clean Air Act
1989: 44%
Lowlight: vetoed SB 427 (Torres) defeating an early attempt by California to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, discourage rainforest destruction, and incorporate global warming into the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
1990: 41%
Lowlight: vetoed SB 1905 (Hart) killing an attempt to establish a self-funded tax incentive program under which buyers of more fuel efficient vehicles would receive a rebate, while buyers of gas-guzzlers would have to pay more sales tax
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Pete Wilson: 1991 to 1998
Average Score: 33%
1991: 65%
Highlight: signed AB 888 (Mays) prohibiting future sales of oil leases in state waters off the coasts of Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and Orange County
1992: 43%
Highlight: signed AJR 59 (Lempert) urging President Bush to continue to use the same definition of wetlands – the Bush administration’s attempt to redefine wetlands would have left more than 50% of California’s wetlands without federal protection
1993: 33%
Lowlight: vetoed AB 724 (Sher) killing an attempt to strengthen the Williamson Act – the state’s premier agricultural land protection law – by prohibiting tax breaks for land uses which jeopardize farming, like golf courses and gravel mining
1994: 33%
Highlight: signed AB 2444 (O’Connell) creating the Coastal Sanctuary Act and providing permanent protection for state coastal waters from offshore oil and gas development
1995: 21%
Highlight: signed SB 901(Costa) supporting a landmark step forward in water policy by mandating that local officials make sure water supplies are available before approving new developments
1996: 10%
Lowlight: signed ABX 3 1 (Frusetta) overturning a ban on methyl bromide – a highly toxic pesticide that is also a powerful destroyer of the ozone layer
1997: 50%
Highlight: signed a number of laws protecting the California coast line making 1997 “Year of the Coast”
1998: 12%
Highlight: signed AB 1241 (Keeley), the California Marine Life Management Act, establishing sustainable fishery management policies
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Gray Davis: 1999 to 2003
Average Score: 82%
1999: 77%
Highlight: signed SB 25 (Escutia), the Children’s Environmental Health Act, changing the standards set for acceptable levels of smog and toxic pollution to those that protect our most vulnerable populations – children – rather than on health studies of an average adult male
2000: 75%
Highlight: signed a number of global warming bills including SB 1771 (Sher) which created the California Climate Action Registry, requiring the state to inventory all state sources of greenhouse gas emissions and investigate strategies for reductions
2001: 85%
Highlight: signed SB 463 (Perata) safeguarding California from Bush’s federal rollback of drinking water standards by enforcing tougher limits on arsenic in drinking
2002: 75%
Highlight: signed AB 1493 (Pavley) enacting the first major global warming law in the nation with a focus on stricter tailpipe emission standards for automobiles
2003: 100%
Highlight: signed a number of air quality bills dubbed the “700 Series” (Florez) addressing the Central Valley’s critical pollution problem
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Arnold Schwarzenegger: 2004 to present
Average Score: 53%
2004: 58%
Highlight: signed a series of ocean protection bills including SB 1319 (Burton & Alpert) to create an Ocean Protection Council
2005: 58%
Highlight: signed SB 484 (Migden) requiring cosmetic and body care manufacturers to inform the state of ingredients in their products that are known to cause cancer or birth defects
2006: 50%
Highlight: signed AB 32 (Pavley), California’s second major global warming of the decade, targeting emissions from stationary sources of greenhouse gases like refineries and power plants
2007: 63%
Highlight: signed AB 1108 (Ma) banning the use of toxic phthalate chemicals in toys
2008: 60%
Lowlight: vetoed SB 974 (Lowenthal) shutting down the multi-year effort to reduce pollution and save lives in communities near California’s ports – the largest source of air pollution in the 6-county L.A. air basin
2009: 28%
Lowlight: along with crippling economic and budget issues, the governor and legislature allowed multiple exemptions to baseline environmental protections afforded by CEQA. These included exemptions for new power plants and a proposed football stadium outside Los Angeles.
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Timeline
1985 – Deukmejian establishes his trend of using his “blue pencil” power to eliminate and reduce funding for environmental programs, starting with funds for the Coastal Commission this year; funding for OSHA and the Williamson Act were in years to follow
1992 – Wilson backs away from the opportunity to strengthen the Coastal Commission by refusing to replace developer-backed members with more environmentally oriented commissioners
1995 – Wilson reminds us the governor’s office can introduce legislation with SB 1180, the most serious attack ever mounted against the California Environmental Quality Act – an environmental Bill of Rights that guarantees citizens a voice in decisions about environmentally harmful development projects
1997 – Wilson wields the power of his position by calling for scientists to destroy evidence on health problems caused by pollution
1999 – Davis appointments several good environmentalists to key positions
2000 – Davis actively supports the Parks and Water bonds (Props. 12 & 13) on the primary ballot, helping to garner the support of voters
2003 – Davis shows support in the state budget for the “polluter pays” principle which shifts the burden of pollution cleanup funding from taxpayers to polluters
2004 – Schwarzenegger rejects funding proposals for departments facing systemic funding shortfalls including the Departments of Fish and Game, Forestry, and Parks and Recreation
2005 – Schwarzenegger approves several stopgap measures in the budget, including start-up funds for the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and funds to increase environmental reviews of timber harvest plans, restore salmon habitat, and carry out the Marine Life Protection Act
2007 – Schwarzenegger addresses the United Nations General Assembly on global warming and signs international global warming agreements with British Prime Minister Tony Blair
