Day of Reckoning Approaches for Key Environmental Bills in California--Including Those to Prevent Lead Exposure

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Traci Sheehan
Executive Director
Planning and Conservation League

Two of PCL's top priority pieces of legislation face their first committee challenge at the state Capitol Monday afternoon.

AB 2153 (Krekorian) the Water Efficiency Security Act will be heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. This important water efficiency and conservation measure requires developers to fully mitigate any additional water demand from their development in order to secure the water supply reliability of existing residents. Last week, the Sacramento Bee noted the importance of this bill and AB 2175 (Laird/Feuer) in meeting California's water needs.

By supporting AB 2153 on Monday, the Legislature has the opportunity to advance the discussion regarding the Governor's recent call for a 20 percent per capita reduction in California water use.

SB 1165 (Kuehl), which improves public participation during the environmental review process for new developments, will be heard in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. This measure will provide for greater transparency in the creation of draft Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) and requires EIRs older than five years to be reviewed again for new impacts.

Passage of SB 1165 will ensure that environmental documents are truly current and that public decisions are truly public.

We'll let you know how these two bills fare next week!

Bills to Prevent Lead Exposure to be Heard

With the onslaught of new instances of lead-laden products flooding our store shelves, the Legislature has taken up the six new bills aimed to address this health threat.

Despite federal, state, and local measures, lead poisoning remains a major threat to California's children. According to estimates by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, lead may harm over 300,000 children in the United States. Health impacts include developmental and learning disabilities, damage to the kidneys and central nervous system, underdevelopment, and at very high levels seizures, coma, and death.