[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Same Play as Last Year: No Respect for Laws Passed by the Majority and Supported by Californians—Only This Year, They’re Also Picking on Workers

By Frank D. Russo

Republican State Senators held a press conference last week and demanded that California delay implementation of AB 32—our landmark global warming law—and that other changes be made to our state’s overtime law, a progressive reform enacted decades ago. This is like a bad dream. And it could not come at a worse time than now, where there is a need to pass a budget on time or California will face irreparable harm to its creditworthiness and increased costs in borrowing.

Last year, the state budget was held up by this band of 15 because they wanted to deny California Attorney General Jerry Brown the funds to enforce California’s basic environmental law—signed by Ronald Reagan when he was governor—the California Environmental Quality Assurance law known as “CEQA.” They had egg on their face, came out on the short end of the stick and were blamed by California voters for their obstructionism. And they were thwarted.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

A year after the US Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA, a case in which California was a lead plaintiff, that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and facing defiance, delays, and stonewalling from the Bush administration in complying with that decision, California Attorney General Jerry Brown went to federal court yesterday to force the EPA to release a court-mandated determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health or welfare.

California is joined by nineteen states and local governments in this legal action—a petition for a writ of mandamus-- including Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, District of Columbia, City of New York, Mayor and City Council for Baltimore. It was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and asks for a court order that would force the EPA to release its determination of endangerment within sixty days.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

California attorney general Jerry Brown and officials from 17 other states are calling for the release of internal EPA papers arguing that greenhouse gas emissions end anger public health, reports the Contra Costa Times. In the latest in (EPA administrator) Stephen Johnson vs. the People, the former announced that he would pursue a public comment period instead of releasing the documents.

Led by President Pro Tem Don Perata, Democrats in the state Senate and Assembly are unveiling today a package of eight bills to fight autism, reports the Sac Bee. The bills address, among other things, improving diagnosis and treatment for autism, and improving access to health care for autistic individuals.

The Senate Health Committee has okayed a bill that would require the mandatory labeling of food from cloned animals, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. SB1121, sponsored by state Senator Carol Migden, "would require every merchant along the food supply chain, from livestock producers to grocery store operators, to tell their customers that a product came from a cloned animal or its offspring."

by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

The election on Tuesday is of enormous importance to the future of the country and to California as well. We’ve learned all too well that policies in Washington, D.C., have an enormous impact on our state. Whether it’s the ability of California to adopt air pollution standards that are tougher than the federal ones, fighting global warming, health coverage legislation, or other issues our state legislators and governor are working on, there are hurdles set up in our nation’s capital that preempt us or make it difficult to act.

Witness the fact that through California Attorney General Jerry Brown we are suing the federal Environmental Protection Agency on global warming automobile standards, and if we are successful, a 19 other states will be able to follow our lead. Or, when it comes to health insurance proposals, there are thorny issues of federal preemption under the Employee Income and Security Act (ERISA).

And the War in Iraq, the economy, the collapse of the subprime market—virtually all the major issues decided and debated in Washington affect us as the largest state in the nation.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Walker
West Coast Director
Environmental Working Group

It’s no secret California Attorney General Jerry Brown wants to return to the governor’s office he held from 1975 to 1983. But for a guy whose family name is synonymous with “Democrat” and is viewed nationally as a beyond-liberal lefty (far from it), it’s interesting that on the environment he’s staking out the same turf as Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Arnold’s signature issue, of course, is global warming, but the man once known as Gov. Moonbeam is working hard to steal the spotlight. In the space of a month, Brown filed suit against the Bush Administration for its delay in deciding whether California can set its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles; petitioned the EPA to regulate GHG emissions from airplanes; and struck a deal to reduce GHG emissions from ships, trucks and trains at the Port of Los Angeles.