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The annual California Environmental Scorecard grades the California State Legislature and Governor on their environmental and climate actions from the past legislative year.

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    D

    California
    2021 Grade

    California is no longer leading on climate change. Here’s the reality: In the golden state, we are far behind where we need to be on climate action. The California Legislature and Governor have their work cut out for them. The time to go bigger and bolder on climate was yesterday. California has failed in recent years to muster up the political will to pass meaningful climate policy through the Legislature that will move the needle on issues that improve local air quality, advance environmental justice, replace dirty fossil fuels with clean energy, and that take advantage of the incredible opportunity that climate action brings for the health and safety of Californians and our state’s economy. California Environmental Voters assigned its first D grade (67%) to the state for its inaction on the climate crisis in 2021.

    We are one year closer to the 2030 deadline scientists have given us to make the necessary investments and policy changes to avert major climate catastrophe, and we’ve got too little to show for it. We are not on track to meet our current climate goals, and in 2021 the state once again failed to take meaningful action at the rate and scale the crisis demands.

    It’s no mystery why: A shocking 63% of state legislators take oil money. We have the solutions to solve the climate crisis, but too many of our leaders — who were elected to represent us, the people, who overwhelmingly support climate action — have lacked the political courage to move on meaningful climate policy. The clock is ticking, and anything short of bold, expansive action on climate is insufficient. California’s D grade for 2021 reflects that.

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    Climate Action Caucus

    Members of the Climate Action Caucus are environmental champions fighting for bold policy change to address the climate crisis in Sacramento. These legislators deserve special recognition for their climate leadership in 2021.

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    Steve Bennnett

    Assemblymember (D-37)
    New Legislator of the Year Assemblymember Bennett authored and passed into law an oil and gas bill in his first year in office. AB 896 holds polluters accountable for their cleanup costs and helps to reduce the number of orphaned oil wells (those left abandoned and not cleaned up by the companies that operated them) in the state. Assemblymember Bennett is a reliable strong environmental vote in the Assembly and has prioritized collaboration with colleagues on passing climate bills. He also sits on the Assembly Elections Committee, where he has been an advocate for creating a more fair, inclusive, and representative democracy.
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    Scott Wiener

    Senator (D-11)
    Anti-Fossil Fuel Fighter Senator Wiener authored two Environmental Scorecard bills in 2021: SB 467 which would have banned fracking and ended neighborhood oil drilling, and SB 260, the Climate Corporate Accountability Act (EnviroVoters’ sponsored bill). He is a consistent strong champion for bold climate policy with a solid environmental voting record, and has helped tremendously to push the State Senate to pass more climate legislation, which resulted in SB 260 being one of the first major climate bills to pass out of the State Senate in early 2022.
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    David Chiu

    Assemblymember (D)
    Clean Energy Champion Former Assemblymember Chiu in 2021 authored and championed AB 525, which was signed into law and has jumpstarted the state’s offshore wind energy industry. This will generate thousands of jobs and significantly move the needle on replacing dirty fossil fuel energy with clean, renewable energy. Chiu, who was appointed San Francisco City Attorney and vacated his Assembly seat, was a fierce progressive champion in the Assembly who was unafraid of taking on bold ideas and policy change and who brought colleagues and stakeholders together to push for climate action.
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    Lena Gonzalez

    Senator (D-33)
    Clean Air Ambassador Senator Gonzalez, elected to the Legislature in 2019, was named New Legislator of the Year in the 2020 Environmental Scorecard. In 2021, she continued to be a bold leader on climate justice in the State Senate. Senator Gonzalez’s approach to climate and environmental health policies is intersectional and importantly prioritizes the needs of communities most impacted by pollution. Since taking over as chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, she has been a strong advocate for equitable access to clean transportation and cleaning up air pollution caused by cars and trucks.
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    Polluter Caucus​

    Members of the Polluter Caucus have actively worked against efforts to pass policy that would protect our future from the climate crisis either by authoring anti-environmental bills or otherwise stalling progress on important policies. These legislators are responsible for stalling climate progress in 2021.

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    Steve Glazer

    Senator (D-7)
    Score: 75% Senator Glazer continues to work behind the scenes to organize moderate, business-friendly Democrats in the Senate to stall climate and justice-focused legislation, including SB 342, a bill about environmental justice and air quality. His inability to accept any accountability for his actions and his votes is unacceptable, and the role he plays in delaying climate policy in California is undeniable. As the new chair of the Senate Elections Committee, Senator Glazer held important bills from being passed, including SB 286, a pro-democracy bill that, in its previous form, would have created a more representative democracy by requiring elections for county offices like county sheriff and board of supervisor seats to be held during general elections when voter turnout is more representative of the voters in a given county.
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    Robert Hertzberg

    Senator (D-18)
    Score: 69% Senator Hertzberg was the Majority Leader of the Senate during 2021. Despite the Senate seeing an influx of important climate policy introduced in 2021, a majority of these important climate bills died or stalled because of a lack of leadership support from legislators like Senator Hertzberg. He has consistently worked against critical environmental justice policies like oil setbacks and has refused to support the small number of climate bills that actually made it to the Senate floor. He earned less than a 70% score in 2021, his lowest score of all time. In a state whose voters overwhelmingly want state leaders to prioritize climate action, Robert Hertzberg’s actions as the former Majority Leader of the State Senate were unacceptable.
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    Susan Rubio

    Senator (D-22)
    Score: 41% Senator Rubio has the second worst environmental score in 2021 among all Senate Democrats, and is among the top 10 lowest scoring Democrats in the entire Legislature. Her 41% score for 2021 is a giant drop from her 93% grade in 2020. In 2021, she voted against a bill that helped clean up oil wells during the bill’s first floor vote, and she abstained from voting on decriminalizing jaywalking, codifying climate targets, and on improving air quality.
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    Rudy Salas

    Assemblymember (D-32)
    Score: 12% Assemblymember Salas earned a 12% environmental score in 2021, making him the lowest-scoring Democrat in the entire California Legislature, scoring worse even than some Republicans. In 2021, he voted against all but one Environmental Scorecard bill. His time in the Legislature can be summed up by his overall 50% lifetime environmental score, which demonstrates how he has consistently let down his constituents on environmental issues in the nine years he has been in office by prioritizing oil companies. Assemblymember Salas authored numerous anti-environment bills, the worst being a bill in 2019 that would have sold out his constituents in Fuller Acres, a rural community with just under 1,000 residents (77% of whom are Latinx and a third of whom are children) in order to give a special exemption to an oil refinery to not have to monitor for toxic air pollutants that are known to cause cancer.

    How it Works

    How Legislators Are Scored

    95%Environmental Votes

    5%CA Score

    We select the most significant environmental bills from the previous legislative session and track how every state legislator voted on each bill. Scores are shown as a percentage and are weighted to include each legislator’s own pro-environment votes and the California score, which makes up 5% of every legislator’s own score. Legislators who author a pro-environment Scorecard bill that was included in the overall California Score are given an additional point, and those who have accepted oil money since 2018 (recent election cycles) have a point deducted.

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    How the Governor Is Scored

    90%Environmental Votes

    10%CA Score

    The Governor is also given a score, which is weighted to include the signing or vetoing of pro-environment bills into law and the California score, which makes up 10% of the Governor’s score. Extra points are included in the Governor’s score for pro-environment executive orders and important environmental actions his administration took in 2021.

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    View Governor's Scorecard

    Weighing the Scores

    There are times when legislators fight hard behind the scenes to stop damaging and hazardous policy or fight for bold and important policy. Similarly, there are times when legislators aligned with polluters’ efforts behind the scenes to weaken or kill environmental bills before they can even get a vote. Voting records alone do not tell that side of the story. The weighted scoring method used by the Environmental Scorecard shines a light on whether the Legislature is authoring and moving policy that will significantly move the needle on the climate crisis and who is actually leading by authoring these bills. The Legislature and Governor need to measure success based on their ability to pass bold climate policy and the entire state’s success in taking the action needed right now to protect our future.

    Oil Money Badges

    An oil money badge appears on the Scorecard page of every legislator who has accepted money directly from oil companies or from major oil company Political Action Committees (PACs) within the past six years. While direct contributions from oil companies and their major PACs is not the only way a legislator can receive funding from the oil industry, it is a helpful indicator to show who openly accepts oil company funding and who does not. Recent oil money contributions impact a legislator’s votes today and they should therefore be held accountable to that today. Corporate polluters’ campaign contributions to legislators have a powerful impact on their votes. So for the first time, legislators who have accepted oil money in recent election cycles — since 2018 — have a negative mark on their 2021 environmental score, counting equal to an anti-environment vote. It is imperative that leaders reject the money and influence of this industry and instead hold them accountable for their role in creating the climate crisis.

    How to Use the California
    Environmental Scorecard

    Through the Scorecard, we seek to accurately reflect the impact lawmakers have on addressing environmental issues and the climate crisis so voters can better understand how often their representatives in the State Legislature are voting for the environment.

    Now here is where you come in. Find your legislator’s page, check out their environmental score, and make note of whether or not they take oil money. Then reach out to your legislator. Call, email, or tweet at them to tell them what you think of their environmental score and why it matters to you that your legislator always votes for climate justice. Don’t underestimate our collective power as individuals and constituents. When the people of California make their voices heard, our policies better reflect our state’s priorities.

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