As the leader of the Senate, the Pro Tem not only represents their own constituents, but also the people of California and the Senate chamber as a whole. The Pro Tem plays a significant leadership role because of their power to appoint committee chairs, which are critical positions that can make the difference between a major climate policy passing or not.

Three of CLCV’s priority bills died in Senate committees, after passing through the Assembly, stopping them from moving forward to the Senate floor. During an unacceptably hostile and dismissive hearing for AB 345, a bill which would require a minimum distance between oil and gas drilling and sensitive places such as homes and child care centers, some members of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee voted against the bill, ignoring the public health and safety implications of this policy. The two other priority bills- AB 2954 and AB 3030-died in the Senate Appropriations Committee. AB 2954 would have required the state to set an overall climate goal for the state’s natural and working lands, and AB 3030 would have created a state policy goal to conserve 30% of the state’s lands, waters, and oceans.

As the leader of the upper chamber, Californians need Pro Tem Atkins to prioritize shepherding these important policies through the Senate. As the climate crisis worsens, we’re counting on leaders like Pro Tem Atkins to have a vision and agenda to make sure critical bills, like those three priority bills, have a chance to become law. We’re counting on her to not only help us be prepared for what’s coming, but to prevent the worst. Because of bills dying in committee, and because of a trimmed-down list of bills due to the pandemic, the overall Senate score is most likely inflated.