2011 California Environmental Scorecard

Setting a Hopeful Tone: Two major environmental victories in the November 2010 election set a hopeful tone for the 2011 legislative season. Proposition 23, which was brought to the ballot largely through out-of-state oil money, would have repealed California’s landmark climate change law, AB 32. Instead, Prop 23 (dubbed the “Dirty Energy Initiative”) suffered a crushing defeat, reaffirming Californians’ commitment to doing our part for the climate. Secondly, Jerry Brown was elected governor, nearly thirty years after his first two terms. Brown campaigned on a platform of experience, fiscal responsibility, and environmental protection; indeed, he holds the highest lifetime California Environmental Scorecard score (86%) of any governor since the beginning of his first term in 1975.

Buoyed by these victories, environmentalists refocused our efforts to ensure equitable and effective implementation of rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to pass a slate of new laws to greatly increase renewable energy use and protect Californians from toxics in our water and consumer products.

Of course, California’s continued economic hardship and an enormous state budget deficit dominated any Capitol discussions....

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