Friend – last night was the deadline for the State Legislature to pass all policies for the year, and here’s the big, exciting takeaway: California has regained its global climate leadership.

This legislative session’s victories are unprecedented and launch a just climate future. Massive budget investments in clean transportation, building electrification, clean energy, and resilience are complementing a suite of transformative policies including a long-overdue passage of health and safety buffer zones from oil drilling, cementing the state’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality and radically reduce polluting emissions, and first-in-the-world comprehensive policy to combat plastic pollution.

California has proven we can still make big changes on climate and defeat the power of corporate polluters. Please, check out our full list of legislative wins from 2022 >>

In our Environmental Scorecard, we gave California a D for failing on climate action in 2021. Now, after three years of mostly inaction in the Legislature, 2022 has been a breakthrough year for climate leadership in California – and EnviroVoters’ vision and courage in accountability created the conditions for this watershed moment.

California is finally investing in solutions at the scale required to turn the tide before time runs out at the end of this decade. Just look at some of the bills the Legislature passed in the past two weeks:

SB 1137, which prohibits oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of homes, daycares, schools, and other sensitive sites, is a long overdue win for frontline communities and key to transitioning away from fossil fuels.

AB 1279, which commits California to achieve carbon neutrality ASAP but no later than 2045 paired with a strong commitment to radically reduce polluting emissions, makes our climate goals more credible by rooting them in the latest science.

AB 2550 means cleaner air for the San Joaquin Valley is that much closer to reality. SB 1314 means Big Oil can’t trick us into drilling for more oil while calling it “climate action.” And AB 2316 means a new program is coming to make solar and storage accessible and affordable to renters and low-income households.

If California can sustain this climate courage in future years, we can truly create the global roadmap to solving the climate crisis and advancing justice. 

I am so thankful to the many advocates and legislative champions who never gave up and pushed for these policies for years before we finally passed them.

I’m thankful for our staff who got scrappy and creative to pull at all of our possible resources to bring these bills through the finish line.

And I’m thankful to EnviroVoters like YOU, friend, for making thousands of calls and emails to legislators demanding climate action.

Still, we know more work is needed to solve the climate crisis.

It’s deeply disappointing that the Assembly couldn’t secure one additional vote to pass SB 260, the Climate Corporate Accountability Act. Or muster the climate courage to pass AB 2133 to more drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, which is what climate scientists are telling us is needed to save our future. This is the road we must take together to protect communities and our future.

As historic as 2022 has been, if we all Get Out the Vote this fall to elect all our endorsed climate champion candidates up and down the state and pass Prop 30, just imagine how much more bold climate action we can achieve.

Please friend, take a moment to read through a more detailed account of our legislative victories from the past few weeks. Then let’s go elect a climate majority in California to make 2023 even more impactful than 2022.

Thanks for being with us.

Mary Creasman
Chief Executive Officer
California Environmental Voters
(formerly California League of Conservation Voters)

EnviroVoters is hiring! Join us to work on critical climate legislation work.

California Environmental Voters (EnviroVoters), formerly California League of Conservation Voters, exists to build the political power to solve the climate crisis, advance justice, and create a roadmap for global action. To protect our air, land, water, and future, we organize voters, elect and train candidates, and hold lawmakers accountable for bold policy change. Our vision is to solve the climate crisis, build resilient, connected, healthy communities, and create a democracy and economy that is just and sustainable for all.