Wildfires, smog, high gas prices and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine all serve to remind us of the urgency of breaking our addiction to oil. CCA has been heavily involved in several bills in the California Legislature that would help, and they all need to pass by August 31.

SB 1010 (Skinner) – Clean State Fleets

State government should lead by example, so this bill would require the state to purchase only non-polluting vehicles for its own fleets. All new cars and light trucks would have to be zero-emission by July 1, 2026, and all new trucks, buses and other heavier vehicles would have the same standard by January 1, 2027.

SB 542 (Limón) – Zero-Emission Trucks

Speaking of zero-emission trucks, this bill would exempt them from the state sales tax for 5 years, to help speed the transition to clean movement of goods.

SB 1382 (Gonzalez) – Clean Cars for All

Taxes can also be a burden for low-income buyers of zero-emission vehicles, so this bill would exempt them from state sales taxes when they make a purchase through the Clean Cars 4 All program, and also would improve the program’s outreach to low-income and disadvantaged communities.

AB 2438 (Friedman) – Climate-Friendly Transportation Funding

For far too long, the state has funded transportation projects like freeway widening that increase harmful pollution, so this bill would align transportation funding with the need to protect the climate by reducing emissions.

AB 2836 (E. Garcia) – Air Quality Funding

The Carl Moyer Program is a proven and cost-effective source of funding to replace dirty old diesel engines with cleaner new technology, so this bill would extend that funding for 10 more years.

AB 1897 (Wicks) – Oil Refinery Violations

Petroleum refineries cause more air pollution than any other fixed sources in California, but penalties for facilities that violate the law have stayed low for so long that they are just a minor cost of doing business for multi-national oil behemoths. This bill would raise those penalties for scofflaws.

Passage of all of these bills would help reduce oil dependence and air pollution and speed the transition to clean transportation.

Please write or call your state legislators and tell them to send these bills to the Governor this August!

 

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Originally Appeared Here