SB 659:

Silencing Communities from Fighting Pollution

Author:

Andreas Borgeas

Requires the losing party of a lawsuit challenging a project through the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to pay the attorney’s fees for the prevailing party. This would effectively silence communities and erode CEQA's only enforcement mechanism by forcing community groups with legitimate concerns and limited financial resources to weigh the protection of their community against their ability to potentially pay a developer’s attorney’s fees.

Bill info from the legislature

Issues: Land Use

See bill details and other votes scored »

CLCV Opposed

Status:

Passed Senate Judiciary Committee 5-4

VOTE EVENT: Senate Environmental Quality Committee, April 24, 2019Status: Passed

vote key

PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION:

ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION:

DID NOT VOTEDid not vote on good bill. Counted negatively.

DID NOT VOTEDid not vote on a bad bill. Counted positively.

EXCUSEDAbsent due to illness or family leave; not counted positively or negatively.

Senate Votes

Senator	Party	Vote
Allen, Ben	D
Bates, Patricia	R
Hill, Jerry	D
Skinner, Nancy	D
Stern, Henry	D
Stone, Jeffrey	R
Wieckowski, Bob	D

About California Environmental Voters

California Environmental Voters (formerly the California League of Conservation Voters) believes the climate crisis is here and this moment requires transformative change. California has the policy solutions to stop climate change but lacks the political will to do it at the rate and scale that’s necessary. EnviroVoters exists to build the political power to solve the climate crisis, advance justice, and create a roadmap for global action. We organize voters, elect and train candidates, and hold lawmakers accountable for bold policy change. We won’t stop until we have resilient, healthy, thriving communities, and a democracy and economy that is just and sustainable for all.