LegAlert #97-4

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HELP STOP "EMERGENCY" CUTTING OF OLD GROWTH!
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AB 1313 (Lempert) - This bill prohibits cutting or removal of trees
by using a salvage exemption or emergency notice in old-growth
stands of more than five acres in the Coast Forest District. Instead
a timber harvesting plan would be required for this type of
harvesting.

We are getting ready for the bill to be heard on the Assembly floor.
Lempert has placed the bill on the inactive file, and he will probably
reactivate it for the week of 5/27. The opposition has been very
strong and we need members to contact their Assembly Members
and urge a YES vote. We particularly need constituents in the
following districts to contact their representatives: Joe Baca
(District 62), Cruz Bustamente (31), Louis Caldera (46), Dennis
Cardoza (26), Jim Cunneen (24), Denise Ducheny (79), Brooks
Firestone (35), Mike Machado (17), Tom Torlakson (11), and
Edward Vincent (51).

Some of the more important arguments to make with your
representative:
- The bill is carefully written to only impact the most sensitive
forest ecosystem; it affects only old growth in the Coast Forest
District (north coast). Old growth represents less than 2% of all
privately owned forest land.
- CDF records indicate that had this bill been in effect during the
years 1994-6, it would have only affected three harvest operations;
THIS BILL IS NOT OVERKILL.
- Emergency and exemption notices do not need to report the type
of forest or habitat impacted. How can CDF protect old growth if
it does not know what is being cut?
- The opposition argues that this bill will increase forest fires, yet
CDF's records indicate that there have been no significant fires in
old growth forests; fire is not a problem in old growth.
- Although the number of emergencies and exemptions in old
growth are few, the acreage affected is great -- in the past 12
months, two exemptions in old growth were for 179,000 acres and
15,100 acres.

Contact your Assemblymember this week and urge them to support
this important forestry bill!

AB 595 (Brown) - This bill would authorize the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission (MTC) to impose, with voter approval,
a gas tax of up to ten cents per gallon to fund regional
transportation initiatives within the Commission's nine county
jurisdiction. It would require MTC to adopt an expenditure plan
for the tax revenues, giving special consideration to projects that
provide alternatives to single-occupancy automobile travel.

Status: AB 595 has passed through the Assembly Transportation
Committee (which Brown chairs) and Assembly Appropriations (by
a 13-7 vote). It will be heard on the Assembly floor as early as
Monday, 5/19.

Action Needed: Contact your Assembly Members and urge them to
support AB 595. Bay Area representatives are particularly
important. Tell them that the bill encourages a proactive,
collaborative approach to transportation planning, ensuring public
review and citizen overview. It puts increased control of
transportation facilities into the hands of the people who use them,
by giving Bay Area residents the option of funding transportation
improvements.
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Address your letters to: Assembly Member/Senator ______
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

To find out who your
state legislators are, call: (916) 445-3614 (Assembly)
(916) 445-4251 (Senate)

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