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LA Area Legislators Hold Keys to Success on Global Warming Bill in California Assembly Floor Vote!

By Erin Rogers
California Outreach Coordinator
Union of Concerned Scientists

What would you think about receiving as much as a $2,500 rebate on your next car, minivan or light truck in order to help stop global warming? In January, the state legislature will vote on an innovative new program—the California Clean Car Discount—to create rebates for cleaner cars and trucks, and surcharges on new highly polluting vehicles, a reality. State lawmakers from the Los Angeles and Orange County area can make or “brake” this critical bill.

Why are LA Area Legislators So Important?

In 2007, the Clean Car Discount bill (AB 493) fell only a few votes shy of passage in the state Assembly, with several Assemblymembers abstaining from voting. If even half of these abstaining members had voted for the bill, it would have passed. All of the members who abstained are from the greater Los Angeles area.

When the Assembly votes on the bill again in January, we hope that this time the LA area legislators will be driving us toward a cleaner environment instead of falling asleep in the passenger seat! The bill must pass out of the Assembly by the end of January or it is dead for the year.

How can rebates on cars and trucks help reduce global warming pollution?

By offering a rebate on the purchase of a new car, truck, or SUV that emits relatively low levels of global warming pollution—funded by one-time surcharges on the purchase of dirtier new vehicles—experts calculate that the Clean Car Discount program can wipe out nearly a third of California’s global warming pollution from cars and trucks. That’s the equivalent to taking almost 20 million vehicles off the road by 2030!

In the Clean Car Discount program, the amount of the rebate is based on how much global warming pollution the vehicle emits—the less pollution, the higher the rebate. A significant portion of vehicles, including many family-oriented minivans and smaller SUVs, will fall into a “zero dollar-band” receiving neither a surcharge nor rebate. The whole program is self-financing, preserves consumer choice, and applies only when you purchase a new vehicle (not a used one).

Who Cares?

Because passenger vehicles are responsible for nearly a third of California’s total global warming pollution, this is a big deal.

If global warming continues at its current rate, the Los Angeles area will face a sharp rise in extreme heat, a less reliable water supply, and decreased air quality—which could have a significant impact on public health and the economy. Fortunately, the most severe consequences of global warming can be avoided if emissions are reduced in time.

With automakers lagging in their efforts to offer cleaner, more efficient cars, we face a big challenge as to how to reduce the environmental impact of cars and trucks not yet on the road. And with the Bush Administration’s denial of the federal EPA waiver that would’ve allowed California to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, this bill becomes that much more important.

What You Can Do

• Make sure your state Assemblymember, the Speaker of the state Assembly, and the fence-sitters listed below, know that you support AB 493 (Ruskin)—the Clean Car Discount bill. Make a call and/or send a fax to their capitol offices in Sacramento today!

• Ask businesses or organizations you belong to endorse the Clean Car Discount bill. Current endorsers include Consumer Action and several other consumer organizations, public health associations including the American Lung Association, AFSCME, the National Hispanic Environmental Council, the African American Environmentalist Association, and the Los Angeles, Orange County and San Bernardino Democratic Parties. See a full list of nearly 90 endorsers here.

Assembly Members undecided on AB 493
Felipe Fuentes (AD 39) ph: 916-319-2039 \ fax: 916-319-2139
Mike Davis (AD 48) ph: 916-319-2048 \ fax: 916-319-2148
Hector De la Torre (AD 50) ph: 916-319-2050 \ fax: 916-319-2150
Mervyn Dymally (AD 52) ph: 916-319-2052 \ fax: 916-319-2152
Tony Mendoza (AD 56) ph: 916-319-2056 \ fax: 916-319-2156
Dr. Ed Hernandez (AD 57) ph: 916-319-2057 \ fax: 916-319-2157
Jose Solorio (AD 69) ph: 916-319-2069 \ fax: 916-319-2169

For more information, contact Erin Rogers, California Outreach Coordinator for the Union of Concerned Scientists at erogers@ucsusa.org.

Erin Rogers works with the Union of Concerned Scientists’ 25,000 California members and activists, as well as environmental justice, health, science, religious, civic, business, community-based, and other groups to design and implement campaigns for cleaner diesel, cleaner energy, cleaner vehicles, and other global warming solutions. Erin also coordinates the California Sound Science Initiative—a network of more than 600 California scientists affiliated the UCS.

Posted on January 22, 2008

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