California Environmental Scorecard

2020 California Environmental Scorecard

California Environmental Scorecard — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 06:15:26 -0800

Download the 2020 Scorecard (PDF)

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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.

Assemblymember Laura Friedman Sustainability Steward As the former Chair of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee and newly appointed Chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee, she has been a critical backstop to ensuring that environmental laws are not weakened, is a strong proponent of sustainable land use, and never misses an opportunity to support bold climate action.

Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes Public Health Protector She is a consistent and bold advocate for strong air quality regulations and environmental justice. She was a leader in defending environmental and public health protections during the pandemic, at a time when polluters were asking to weaken or rollback regulations. She was recently appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly as the fourth woman and first ever Latina Assembly Majority Leader.

Senator Lena Gonzalez New Legislator of the Year In 2020, she supported bold climate bills to hold oil companies accountable for oil spills and to reduce plastic packaging waste. She was recently appointed to chair the Senate Transportation committee, making her a strong new leader amongst the climate champions in the legislature.

Assemblymember Ash Kalra Nature Defender He fought hard to pass AB 3030 to preserve biodiversity and access to nature. He currently chairs the Assembly Labor Committee, and is someone the environmental community can always count on to be the progressive leader and environmental champion that California needs.

Senator Holly Mitchell Legacy Leader From her work to ensure that underserved communities impacted by pollution had a voice at the table, her support for advancing California’s climate and clean energy leadership, and her work to hold oil companies accountable, she has been a strong ally for environmental health, climate, and justice, even in the face of deep-pocketed lobbying interests. She has raised the bar for intersectional environmental leadership in California.

Polluter Caucus

Members of the Polluter Caucus have prioritized fighting against protecting our future from the climate crisis through authoring anti-environmental bills or leading efforts to roll back our environmental and public health progress. These legislators do not represent voter’s priorities for climate action.

Assemblymember Jim Cooper As one of the lowest scoring Democrats in the legislature, he publicly opposed climate policy, abstained from voting on important bills, refused to support updating fines for oil spills caused by oil companies, opposed establishing a minimum distance between homes and oil drilling, refused to support conserving land and waters to protect biodiversity, opposed reducing plastic waste, and more.

Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell Not only did he support rollbacks and suspensions of important air quality and climate regulations from diesel trains, trucks, and ships in the midst of an air-borne pandemic, he also led legislative sign-on letters to encourage other legislators to join him in supporting these reckless environmental rollbacks.

Assemblymember Jim Frazier He makes the Polluter Caucus for the second year in a row, due to having the lowest environmental score of any Democrat in the legislature. He scored even lower than some Republicans. He also led the calls for dangerous environmental and health rollbacks, using the pandemic to justify the state pausing the implementation and development of all air quality regulations.

Senator Shannon Grove She led the Senate Republican caucus during a year when the caucus’s average environmental score was a mere 15%. She also obstructed votes on many bills during the last night of the legislative session, due to her disruptive filibustering.

What Happened in 2020

The 2020 California State Legislature largely failed to take action on the climate crisis. Leadership in Sacramento lacked a clear vision or agenda on how to enact climate action. Democratic legislators even signed onto letters calling for rollbacks of environmental and air quality regulations, using the pandemic as an excuse to help polluting industries dismantle these critical protections. Luckily, there were a handful of elected officials in Sacramento who fought back against these exploitative calls for environmental rollbacks. Following this severely disappointing legislative session, Governor Newsom signed two major climate Executive Orders. Still, California’s position as a global climate leader remains in question, as Big Oil and other corporate interests continued to disproportionally influence state policy.

The 2020 November General Election’s climate-related results for California congressional and state legislative races were a mix of amazing and frustrating. There were notable key wins for climate candidates, especially in the California State Senate, where two anti-environment incumbents (Former Senators Ling Ling Chang and John Moorlach) were unseated by climate champions. Nationally, Kamala Harris became the nation's first Black, South Asian, female Vice President, and President Joe Biden was elected on a platform that included the most aggressive climate plan of any major party nominee before him. Leading up to the election, California Environmental Voters fought for policies to make voting easy and accessible, like mailing every registered voter a vote-by-mail ballot and maintaining safe in-person voting locations, leading to record high voter turnout. The voters of California have given the State Legislature and Governor a clear directive: prioritize environmental protections and bold climate action. California Environmental Voters is ready to hold them accountable to meeting that.

2020 Calfornia Environmental Scorecard Explained

Since 1973, California Environmental Voters (formerly the California League of Conservation Voters or CLCV) has released our annual Environmental Scorecard, which rates the actions of the California State Legislature and the Governor on their environmental actions each legislative year. Through the Scorecard, we seek to accurately reflect the impact lawmakers have on addressing the climate crisis so voters can better understand how often their representatives in the State Legislature are voting for the environment.

How Legislators are Scored

We select the most significant environmental bills from the previous legislative session and track how every state legislator voted on each bill. Legislators' scores are shown as a percentage and are weighted to include each legislator’s own pro-environment committee votes and floor votes, their caucus’ average score (Assembly and Senate Democratic or Republican Caucus), and California’s overall score. Legislators who author a pro-environment Scorecard bill or a pro-environment letter are given extra points, and those who author an anti-environment Scorecard bill or anti-environment letter are given minus points.

How the Governor is Scored

The Governor is also given a score, which is weighted to include the signing or vetoing of pro-environment bills into law and California’s overall score. Extra points are included in the Governor’s score for pro-environment Executive Orders and actions.

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

The Environmental Scorecard now includes an Oil Money Badge, which will be shown 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 as to who openly accepts oil company funding and who does not. It is imperative leaders reject the money and influence of this industry and hold them accountable for their role in creating the climate crisis.

HAS ACCEPTED
OIL MONEY

Whenever you see this image on a legislator’s Scorecard page, they have accepted money from oil companies.

How to Use the California Environmental Scorecard

This is where you come in. Find your legislator’s page and check out their environmental score and whether or not they have an Oil Money Badge. We encourage you to call the phone number listed on their page. Let them know what you think of their environmental score and why it matters to you that your legislator always votes for climate justice. These phone calls are recorded by staff and passed along to the legislator. Don’t underestimate your power as an individual. When the people of California make their voices heard by calling, writing and expressing their values and positions to elected leaders, our policies better reflect our state’s priorities.

2019 Environmental Scorecard

California Environmental Scorecard — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 05:03:58 -0800

Download the 2019 Scorecard (PDF)

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2019 CLCV Scorecard Explainer

Since 1973, the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) has released our annual California Environmental Scorecard which rates the actions of every state legislator and the Governor on environmental action each legislative year. Through the Scorecard, we seek to accurately reflect the impact that lawmakers have on addressing our climate crisis so voters can better understand how often their representatives in the state Legislature are voting for the environment.

We select the most significant environmental bills in each session and track how each legislator votes on each bill. Legislators' scores are shown as a percentage.

As the urgency to address both our climate and political crises heightens, we’ve revamped the Scorecard this year to reflect our current reality to be a powerful instrument for change. For the first time, CLCV graded legislators, the Governor and the entire state on our progress to make the significant change science tells us we need by 2030 to stop the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. We are looking to go beyond pats on the back and better illuminate who is driving bold change and who is stopping it. This includes scoring California’s overall performance, scoring legislators on their committee votes, and rating the Assembly and Senate Democratic and Republican caucuses.

In order to accurately score lawmakers, CLCV calculated individual lawmaker’s scores using:

Their own committee and full house floor votes
95% of score
Scorecard bills they authored
+1 for each pro-environment Scorecard bill authored
-1 for each anti-environment Scorecard bill authored
Their caucus’s (Senate or Assembly) average score
3% of score
The California Score
2% of score

Our legislators need to measure success 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. The new scoring method shines a light on whether the legislature is authoring and moving policy that will significantly move the needle on the climate crisis, who is actually leading by authoring these bills, where are the tough committee votes, and what is the real environmental policy difference between the caucuses. In a recent UC Berkeley poll, 85% of likely voters in California’s Democratic primary said climate change was their top priority and 47% said climate change should be the leading priority of the next president – higher than any other issue. We now know that we have ten years – until 2030 - to stop the catastrophic impacts. California lawmakers are equipped with the information, technology and will of the voters. With CLCV’s new approach to accountability, we expect to see fast and rapid bold transformative action. Legislators have a mandate to lead now.

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 work behind the scenes to weaken or kill the strongest environmental bills before they can even get a vote. Looking at voting records alone doesn't tell that side of the story. This is where you come in. When the people of California make their voices heard by calling, writing and standing up to tell elected leaders their values and positions, our policies better reflect our great state. Voting is critical to our movement.

Climate Action Caucus

Members of the California Environmental Scorecard’s Climate Action Caucus have gone above and beyond as environmental champions to fight for bold climate policy and are leading the effort to address the climate crisis.

score:100%Assemblymember Monique Limon Climate Queen Consistently champions climate crisis fighting policies and pushes the needle to take on Big Oil, such as AB 1057.

score:100%Senator Connie Leyva Clean Air Ambassador Relentlessly fights for clean air policies to protect her community and all Californians from air pollution and toxic chemicals through bills like SB 210 and SB 574.

score:100%Senator Bill Monning Water Champion Co-led the effort in the Legislature to deliver on the promise of clean and safe drinking water for all Californians by championing SB 200 in 2019.

score:94%Assemblymember Luz Rivas Freshman of the Year Demonstrates strong support for Environmental & Environmental Justice Policies and has authored environmental bills to improve green spaces in her district.

score:96%Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi Climate Action All-Star Does not back down from his continued efforts to end Oil & Gas Drilling on public lands to maintain our beautiful natural environments and protect the health of his constituents, which his bills AB 345 and 342 accomplish.

Polluter Caucus

Members of the polluter caucus have an adverse impact on the environment through either hindering bold climate policy, authoring anti-environmental bills, or otherwise rolling back our commitment as a state to be a global leader on climate action. These legislators do not represent their Assembly or Senate caucus’ stated commitment to addressing and prioritizing climate action.

score:44%Assemblymember Jim Frazier Chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee, which has failed to pass critical environmental bills.

score:55%Senator Anna Caballero Authored three anti-environment Scorecard bills and received the lowest score of all Senate Democrat Caucus members, 55 percent.

score:26%Assemblymember Rudy Salas Authored anti-environment Scorecard bill, AB 1299 and received the lowest scoring member of the Assembly Democratic Caucus.

score:51%Assemblymember Blanca Rubio Since elected has seen a double digit drop in Environmental Score each year.

score:81%Senator Steven Glazer Backwards trend in Environmental Score does not represent his district and his leadership with his colleagues in stalling and weakening environmental policies is unacceptable in this time of climate crisis.

2018 California Environmental Scorecard

California Environmental Scorecard — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 04:42:43 -0800

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2018 Environmental Champions:

These legislators received a perfect score on our Environmental Scorecard. Join us in thanking them for their environmental leadership.

Senate

Allen, Ben

Atkins, Toni

Beall, Jim

Bradford, Steven

Delgado, Vanessa

Dodd, Bill

Glazer, Steve

Hernandez, Ed

Hill, Jerry

Jackson, Hannah-Beth

Lara, Ricardo

Leyva, Connie

McGuire, Mike

Mitchell, Holly

Monning, William

Pan, Richard

Portantino, Anthony

Skinner, Nancy

Stern, Henry

Wieckowski, Bob

Wiener, Scott

Assembly

Berman, Marc

Bloom, Richard

Bonta, Rob

Carrillo, Wendy

Chau, Ed

Chiu, David

Chu, Kansen

Friedman, Laura

Gabriel, Jesse

Gloria, Todd

Gonzalez-Fletcher, Lorena

Holden, Chris

Jones-Sawyer, Reginald

Kalra, Ash

Levine, Marc

Limon, Monique

McCarty, Kevin

Mullin, Kevin

Muratsuchi, Al

Nazarian, Adrin

Quirk, Bill

Rendon, Anthony

Reyes, Eloise

Stone, Mark

Thurmond, Tony

Ting, Philip

2017 California Environmental Scorecard

California Environmental Scorecard — Thu, 25 Jan 2018 13:25:39 -0800

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2017 Environmental Champions:

This year, 22 legislators received a perfect score on our Environmental Scorecard. Join us in thanking them for their environmental leadership.	Senate Ben Allen Jim Beall Holly Mitchell Nancy Skinner Scott Wiener
Assembly Marc Berman Richard Bloom Rob Bonta David Chiu Susan Eggman Laura Friedman Todd Gloria Jimmy Gomez Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher Ash Kalra Kevin McCarty Adrin Nazarian Bill Quirk Tony Thurmond Philip Ting Shirley Weber Jim Wood

California Environmental Scorecard

California Environmental Scorecard — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 12:58:39 -0700

2016 was one of the best legislative sessions in recent memory. In Sacramento we passed legislation to require environmental justice be considered in our planning, we extended overtime protections to farmworkers, and we renewed our global commitment to addressing climate change while expanding our work to improving air quality in our most impacted communities. And Governor Brown signed every CLCV priority bill that made it to his desk. Find out how your lawmakers voted on CLCV priority bills using the links below.

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2016 Environmental Champions:

This year, Governor Jerry Brown and 23 legislators, including Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, received a perfect score on our Environmental Scorecard. Join us in thanking them for their environmental leadership.	Governor Jerry Brown	Senate Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León Ben Allen Jim Beall Marty Block Isadore Hall Loni Hancock Jerry Hill Mark Leno Bob Wieckowski Lois Wolk
Assembly Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon Richard Bloom Rob Bonta Ed Chau David Chiu Lorena Gonzalez Reginald Jones-Sawyer Kevin McCarty Adrin Nazarian Mark Stone Tony Thurmond Philip Ting Das Williams