Landmark Clean Energy Bill Signed into Law
This morning at the Los Angeles Griffith Observatory, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 350 into law. SB 350 requires California to generate 50% of our energy from clean, renewable sources, and to increase our energy efficiency by 50%, all by 2030.
This morning at the Los Angeles Griffith Observatory, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 350 into law. SB 350 requires California to generate 50% of our energy from clean, renewable sources, and to increase our energy efficiency by 50%, all by 2030. Here’s the story in the Los Angeles Times. Kudos to Governor Jerry Brown for laying out an ambitious agenda for clean energy in his State of the State address at the beginning of the year, and to Senate Pro Tem Kevin de León for championing the bill through the legislature despite heavy opposition from the fossil fuel industry.
Concerns about global warming have driven the CALPIRG Student Chapters to prioritize working to promote clean energy solutions, and our chapters were active in supporting SB 350. The students organized a lobby day back in March to meet with their local representatives and urge their support for this bill and a package of other clean energy policies. Later in the year, CALPIRG student activists held a number of phonebanks and campus days of action to shore up the support of key Assemblymembers who were facing a lot of pressure from the oil industry to oppose the bill.
Photos: CALPIRG Students at the Sacramento Capitol building, Berkeley CALPIRG students holding a day of action for SB 350, and USC CALPIRG students phonebanking in support of SB 350
Authors
Emily Rusch
Vice President and Senior Director of State Offices, The Public Interest Network
Emily is the senior director for state organizations for The Public Interest Network. She works nationwide with the state group directors for PIRG and Environment America to help them build stronger organizations and achieve greater success. Emily was the executive director for CALPIRG from 2009-2021, overseeing a myriad of CALPIRG campaigns to protect public health, protect consumers in the marketplace, and promote a robust democracy. Emily works in our Oakland, California, office, and loves camping, hiking, gardening and cooking with her family.