2023: A Year of Unfinished Business
⬇️ from a 91% score in 2022
California earns B grade for undercutting big wins with anti-environmental actions
The past two years have shown how much our leaders in Sacramento can accomplish when they have a climate vision, make it a priority, and work together. With the climate crisis worsening — California saw everything from atmospheric rivers and devastating flooding to deadly bomb cyclones and the hottest summer on record in 2023 — every year must be a huge year on climate justice, progress, and action.
While California had some world-changing climate victories in 2023 like passing SB 253 (Wiener) and SB 261 (Stern), too often the state’s leadership did not meet the moment. In 2023, California took one step backward for every two steps forward, earning an overall B grade on climate action in the California Environmental Scorecard.
We have a lot to celebrate from 2023:
We have a lot to celebrate from 2023:
Corporate Leadership and Accountability
In a pivotal moment, SB 253 finally became law after a three-year effort. This new regulation, authored by Senator Scott Wiener, will require every U.S.-based corporation that does business in California and earns over $1 billion in annual revenue to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas pollution, including direct and indirect carbon emissions. Given California’s standing as the fifth-largest economy in the world, this policy will have not only national but also global impacts.
The passage of SB 261, authored by Senator Henry Stern, was also a vital step toward transparency, mandating businesses to submit annual climate-related financial risk reports and to inform the public about the mitigation measures they are taking in the face of the climate crisis. Together, SB 253 and SB 261 will usher in a new era of accountability and responsibility in the corporate world.
EnviroVoters staff celebrates with legislators after the Assembly passes SB 253 and sends it to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
More Key Legislative Wins
Photo: imaginima from Getty Images Signature
AB 3 (Zbur): Invests in offshore wind energy and good-paying jobs in California.
AB 126 (Reyes & Gonzalez): Guarantees funding to cut vehicle pollution in underserved communities.
AB 421 (Bryan): Reforms California’s referendum process to make voting with your values easier.
AB 631 (Hart): Holds oil companies accountable for oil spills and leaks.
AB 1167 (W. Carrillo): Makes Big Oil pay for cleaning up retired oil wells instead of taxpayers.
SB 337 (Min): Creates a plan for conserving 30% of California’s lands, waters, and oceans by 2030.
SB 389 (Allen): Ensures that water rights are fairly distributed to prevent disproportionate usage of this precious resource.
Regulatory Win
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) passed Advanced Clean Fleets in 2023, a game-changing rule that will require fleets that are well suited for electrification to transition to zero-emission vehicles by 2035. This is a critical step given that the transportation sector is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in California and nationwide.
Photo: 4X-image from Getty Images Signature
Exciting and Effective Freshman Class of Climate Champions
Exciting and Effective Freshman Class of Climate Champions
There are so many new legislators who, despite 2023 being their first year in office, have gone above and beyond by voting in favor of every pro-environmental bill on the Scorecard. Their perfect voting record is something to celebrate, and their continued leadership on climate will be worth watching.
But there were some key anti-environmental actions in 2023 too:
But there were some key anti-environmental actions in 2023 too:
Cuts to Climate Budget
Cuts to Climate Budget
After committing to a $54 billion multi-year climate budget in 2022, Governor Newsom made $2 billion in cuts in 2023, and so far in 2024 has proposed another $4 billion in cuts. These cuts to critical investments in clean energy, transportation and building electrification, environmental justice programs, and community resilience undercut our state’s ability to meet our carbon emissions reduction laws and to protect communities from pollution, extreme heat, drought, flood, and catastrophic fires. This is especially shameful when at the same time we are wasting taxpayer dollars on tax subsidies and credits for oil companies that would be better spent on climate solutions.
Photo: RicAguiar from Getty Images Signature
11 Key Bills Vetoed
Photo: RDNE Stock project from Pexels
Governor Newsom vetoed 11 key environmental and democracy bills, raising concerns about the consistent deprioritization and delay of much-needed financing to fund climate solutions, meet emissions reduction goals, and protect communities. Bills he vetoed include AB 249 (Holden), a school lead testing and mitigation bill; AB 1248 (Bryan) to establish an independent redistricting commission to adopt district boundaries after each census; and SB 390 (Limón) to create carbon offset standards.
15 Key Bills Failed to Pass Legislature
There were 15 critical bills that the legislature failed to pass and send to the Governor’s desk. That list includes policies focused on clean air, water, transportation, and buildings, in addition to SB 252 (Gonzalez), which would have stopped California’s public pension funds for state employees and teachers from investing in fossil fuel companies. SB 252 was the only bill out of three in the corporate accountability package with SB 253 (Wiener) and SB 261 (Stern) that did not pass in 2023. California can’t truly be a global leader in the climate fight if it leaves critical climate solutions like these on the table.
Photo: hanhanpeggy from Getty Images
Destructive Water Policy
Photo: susafri from Getty Images Signature
Governor Newsom certified the environmentally destructive Sites Reservoir for judicial streamlining using SB 149 (Caballero). Building more reservoirs and dams is counter to what science says we need to conserve our resources, which is creating better groundwater management systems. SB 149 was part of the package of infrastructure streamlining budget trailer bills that the Governor jammed through the legislature without meaningful input or collaboration with the Legislature earlier in the year.
In 2024, California's lawmakers need to:
Fund the Transition
In 2024, we’re calling on our leaders to prioritize financing the transition toward clean transportation and building electrification, expanding public transit, and scaling clean energy development.
Hold Corporate Polluters Accountable
Corporate polluters rank highly among the significant threats to California’s immediate and long-term climate goals. We urge our leaders to channel California’s climate investments through passing a climate bond and through the state budget to support our climate goals and implement corporate emissions disclosure requirements like those created by SB 253 (Wiener). Furthermore, we urge California leaders to end the loopholes and subsidies that allow fossil fuel polluters to collect taxpayer handouts while raking in record profits. Policy change is needed to hold corporate polluters accountable as we transition to a clean energy economy.
Create Resilient Landscapes and Communities
Leaders in Sacramento and Washington must make and restore investments in protecting public lands and waters in communities of color so there is more equitable access to nature in our state, and treat conservation and resilience as solutions to the climate crisis rather than afterthoughts.
Electrify Buildings and Transportation
We must ensure that the electrification of our buildings is done in a way that keeps them affordable for Californians and is packaged with sufficient, long-term infrastructure investments. California also needs to increase investments in clean car rebates and charging infrastructure, rapidly expand transit, and advance active transportation infrastructure, starting with disproportionately polluted communities.
Scale Clean Energy. Strengthen Transmission and the Grid
We must transition our energy grid to 100% clean energy as fast, equitably, and resiliently as possible. This goes along with shutting down fossil gas plants and ensuring that communities have access to the cost benefits and air quality benefits of clean energy.
Strengthen and Protect Workforce Standards
As the climate crisis intensifies, creating good-paying union jobs in sustainable industries is critical. We also must transition the fossil fuel workforce in a way that protects workers, not only to prevent further harm but also to create new job opportunities and foster economic resilience.
In 2024, we will continue to make it clear:
Oil money is toxic. Corporate responsibility is key.
Oil money is toxic. Corporate responsibility is key.
We applaud the state for suing fossil fuel companies for their contributions to the climate crisis and how they deceived politicians and the public about their wrongdoings every step of the way. While we’re thrilled the percentage of state legislators who take oil money went down 17% from 2022 to 2023, more than half of the legislature (52%) still takes oil money, including 38% of Democrats. Corporate polluters continue to try to buy their influence in Sacramento — Oil and Gas spent over $34 million on campaigns and lobbying in 2022 alone. No serious conversation about climate action can leave out corporate disclosures and reductions. Corporate accountability must continue to be a priority in 2024.
How did we determine California's score?
California’s 2023 Environmental Score is a measure of how California did overall on advancing climate and environmental policy through legislation, the state budget, and actions from the Governor and his administration.
To calculate the California score, we tracked the outcome of 61 total environmental bills that were introduced in 2023, three major pro-environment actions the Governor’s administration took, and three major anti-environmental actions the state took. An extra +10% was added onto the overall score to account for the two major climate bills that passed into law, the Climate Corporate Leadership and Accountability Act (SB 253, authored by Senator Wiener) and the Climate Financial Risk Disclosure Act (SB 261, authored by Senator Stern), which deserve extra recognition due to their worldwide impacts.
| Bill | Final Result |
|---|---|
| AB 3 (Zbur) California Offshore Wind Energy & Jobs Act | Signed into Law |
| AB 7 (Friedman) Climate & Equity Goals for Transportation Investments | Failed |
| AB 57 (Kalra) California Pocket Forest Initiative | Vetoed |
AB 126 (Reyes & Gonzalez) (Formerly AB 241 & SB 84) Clean Transportation Program Modernization | Signed into Law |
| AB 249 (Holden) School Lead Testing & Mitigation | Vetoed |
| AB 285 (Luz Rivas) Pupil instruction: science requirements: climate change | Signed into Law |
AB 292 (Pellerin) Primary elections: ballots | Signed into Law |
AB 363 (Bauer-Kahan) Pesticides: neonicotinoids for nonagricultural use: reevaluation: control measures | Signed into Law |
| AB 398 (Pellerin) Voting: replacement ballots | Signed into Law |
| AB 418 (Gabriel) Food Product Safety | Signed into Law |
| AB 421 (Bryan) Referendum Reform | Signed into Law |
AB 460 (Bauer-Kahan) State Water Board Emergency Interim Relief | Failed |
| AB 538 (Holden) Multistate regional transmission system organization | Failed |
AB 545 (Pellerin) Elections: access for voters with disabilities | Signed into Law |
| AB 579 (Ting) Schoolbuses: zero-emission vehicles | Signed into Law |
| AB 585 (Robert Rivas) Climate change: infrastructure and clean energy projects: assessments | Signed into Law |
| AB 593 (Haney) Pathway to Clean Energy Buildings | Failed |
AB 626 (Pellerin) Voting: returning vote by mail ballots in person | Signed into Law |
| AB 631 (Hart) Community Safety and Protection Act | Signed into Law |
AB 652 (Lee) Department of Pesticide Regulation Environmental Justice Advisory Committee | Signed into Law |
| AB 664 (Lee) California Safe Drinking Water Act | Signed into Law |
AB 753 (Papan) State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account: annual proceeds transfers | Vetoed |
| AB 764 (Bryan) Local Redistricting | Signed into Law |
| AB 809 (Bennett) Salmonid populations: California Monitoring Program | Signed into Law |
| AB 844 (Gipson) Zero-emission trucks: insurance | Signed into Law |
| AB 970 (Luz Rivas) Insurance: Climate and Sustainability Insurance and Risk Reduction Program | Vetoed |
AB 985 (Arambula) Central Valley Air Pollution Credit Reform | Failed |
| Failed | |
| Signed into Law | |
| AB 1176 (Zbur) Local Electrification Planning | Failed |
| Vetoed | |
AB 1305 (Gabriel) Voluntary carbon market disclosures | Signed into Law |
| AB 1322 (Friedman) Pesticides: second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide: diphacinone | Signed into Law |
| AB 1337 (Wicks) Curtailing Water Usage During Shortages | Failed |
AB 1407 (Addis) Ocean Recovery & Large-Scale Restoration | Failed |
| AB 1628 (McKinnor) Microfiber Filtration | Vetoed |
SB 3 (Dodd) Discontinuation of Residential Water Services | Signed into Law |
| SB 49 (Becker) Renewable energy: Department of Transportation: evaluation | Signed into Law |
SB 52 (Durazo) Redistricting: large charter cities | Vetoed |
SB 69 (Cortese) California Environmental Quality Act: local agencies: filing of notices of determination or exemption | Signed into Law |
| SB 77 (Umberg) Voting: signature verification: notice | Signed into Law |
| SB 233 (Skinner) Bidirectional EVs | Failed |
| SB 244 (Eggman) Right to Repair | Signed into Law |
| SB 252 (Gonzalez, Stern, Wiener) California Fossil Fuel Divestment Act | Failed |
| SB 253 (Wiener, Gonzalez, Stern) Climate Corporate Leadership & Accountability Act | Signed into Law |
SB 261 (Stern, Becker, Gonzalez, Wiener) Climate Financial Risk Disclosure | Signed into Law |
| SB 314 (Ashby) County of Sacramento Redistricting Commission | Signed into Law |
| SB 337 (Min) Codifying 30×30: Land and Coastal Waters Conservation Goal | Signed into Law |
| Signed into Law | |
| SB 390 (Limón) Voluntary carbon offsets: business regulation | Vetoed |
SB 394 (Gonzalez) Master Plan for Healthy, Sustainable, and Climate-Resilient Schools | Vetoed |
| SB 420 (Becker) Electricity: electrical transmission facility projects | Vetoed |
| SB 527 (Min) Neighborhood Decarbonization Program | Failed |
SB 556 (Gonzalez) Health Protection Zones near Oil & Gas Wells | Failed |
| SB 619 (Padilla) State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission: certification of facilities: electrical transmission projects | Vetoed |
| SB 674 (Gonzalez) statewide refinery fence line monitoring standards | Failed |
| SB 704 (Min) Coastal resources: California Coastal Act of 1976: industrial developments: oil and gas developments: refineries: petrochemical facilities: offshore wind | Signed into Law |
| SB 709 (Allen) Dairy Biogas Low-Carbon Fuel Standard Regulations | Failed |
| SB 745 (Cortese) The Drought-Resistant Buildings Act | Signed into Law |
| SB 842 (Bradford) Attack on Price Gouging Penalty Law (Envirovoters opposed this bill) | Vetoed (pro-environment) |
| SB X1-2 Price Gouging Penalty | Signed into Law |
* Linked bills above are used to determine legislators’ scores in addition to the overall California score
