LegAlert #97-18

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Four Days Left for Governor to Act on Legislation
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The 1997 Legislative Year will officially end at midnight on October 12th,
the last day for the Governor to sign bills passed this year. Interim recess
will officially start then, ending when the Legislature reconvenes on
January 5th.

Governor Wilson's actions on legislation so far have been disappointing.
He has signed a few bills that we supported, establishing a monitoring
program for fine particulate matter (AB 968 Knox) and revising hazardous
waste tracking systems (AB 256 Cunneen and AB 966 Wayne). More
importantly, though, he has rejected equity and fairness in vetoing the two
environmental justice bills that reached his desk, SB 1113 (Solis) and SB
451 (Watson). Other bills the Sierra Club supported which Wilson has
vetoed include AB 705 (Strom-Martin), which required state agencies to
continue purchasing certain recycled materials, and AB 1022 (Lempert),
which increased gift reporting requirements of Coastal Commissioners.

Wilson has delayed acting on most of our priority bills until these final few
days, and it is crucial that we reach him and urge him to support legislation
that will help protect California's public health and environment. If the
Governor remains undecided about any of these bills, then phone calls and
faxes in support of the bill may be enough to swing him our way.

PLEASE CALL OR FAX THE GOVERNOR *TODAY* AND URGE
HIM TO SUPPORT ONE, SOME, OR ALL OF THESE IMPORTANT
BILLS!

** AB 595 (Brown) ** AB 595 would allow the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission to impose, with voter approval, a gas tax to
fund regional transportation initiatives.

** SB 1306 (Sher) ** SB 1306 would require the Air Resources Board to
implement a particulate matter research program, in order to develop
feasible and affordable control strategies.

** AB 11 (Escutia) ** AB 11 would strengthen water pollution
enforcement efforts and narrow liability exemptions that originated in
1996's worst piece of legislation (SB 649 Costa).

** AB 592 (Kuehl) and SB 1189 (Hayden) ** This pair of bills includes
provisions to protect drinking water from contamination by MTBE and
other gasoline constituents.

** AB 1479 (Sweeney) ** The most important of the remaining coastal
bills, AB 1479 would extend and restructure the Bay Protection and Toxic
Hot Spots Cleanup Program to clean up toxic hot spots in California's
bays.

** AB 411 (Wayne) ** AB 411 would improve public health conditions at
beaches by requiring increased water quality monitoring and posting of
health warning signs at contaminated beaches.

** AB 1429 (Shelley) ** AB 1429 would require the development of a
comprehensive, statewide coastal water quality monitoring program.

** SB 499 (Alpert) ** SB 499 would require the development and
implementation of a federally approvable coastal nonpoint source pollution
control program.

** SB 673 (Karnette) ** SB 673 would require the development of plan
for the dredging and disposal of contaminated sediments in Los Angeles
County coastal waters.

STATUS: All these bills will be acted upon by the Governor by midnight
on Sunday, October 12th.

ACTION NEEDED: Call or fax the Governor and urge his signature on
these bills which will protect and restore California's environment.

Contact: Governor Pete Wilson
(916) 445-2841
(916) 445-4633 fax

For further information on any of these bills, please contact Megan Mullin
at (916) 557-1100 x102 or <megan.mullin@sierraclub.org>.

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