2010 California Environmental Scorecard

Holding the Line: After two years of increasing budget deficits and emboldened attacks on environmental protections, 2010 found the environmental community deep in the trenches. The objective of the community this year was a simple and sobering “hold the line!” After a bruising 2009, when only five of the top fifteen environmental priority bills were signed into law and with another budget deficit close to $20 billion, our expectations for the 2010 legislative session were modest at best. With many non-profit coffers already strained by the multi-year recession and the intensity of a statewide election year, many non-governmental organizations tempered their legislative agendas to conserve resources for the challenges later in the year.

Moreover, in a climate where health care, child care, and education funding at all levels had been cut to the breaking point, environmental advocates found themselves dispelling the false dichotomy of jobs versus environment at every turn. Enacting and even maintaining existing environmental protections had never been more difficult.

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