Issue Position: Championing Environmental Leadership and Environmental Justice.

Issue Position

Climate change is real, people. I am ready to fight to keep our state around for future generations. That means joining Governor Brown's honoring of the Paris Climate Agreement and continued aggressive reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. I support California's cap-and-trade program because it is essential for both state-level climate policy as well as supporting global momentum to protect our planet. But "green" policy needs to be more than just rebates for electric car drivers -- I will fight for clean air and water for all Californians, and fight against corporations that try to maximize profits by passing on the financial and human costs of pollution to poorer communities and people of color.

I believe climate change poses an existential threat to humanity, and to the fundamental rights and futures of all those who live in my district. I am proud to come from and raise my daughter in a state that leads the nation -- and the world -- on combating climate change, making our economy cleaner, and reversing the destructive impacts of people-made pollution in our communities.
We still have much more work to do. We are increasingly witnessing the consequences of climate change every day, and we know that those impacts and the burdens of air pollution settle predominantly in low-income communities, and in communities of color. As if the challenges we already faced weren't enough, the Trump Administration has posed additional significant threats to our environment and public health and we must do everything we can to stop his profit-driven, science-denying agenda.
In order to live up to our progressive values, we must:
1) Step up California's leadership role on climate change
2) Infuse every policy and program with environmental justice priorities
3) Fight back against Trump's dangerous deregulatory agenda
This means focusing our development on transit-oriented housing that cuts down on car pollution; equipping people with the tools they need to succeed in clean energy jobs; holding big polluters and industry accountable to local and state air quality laws; expanding children's access to quality healthcare to address our public health crisis; and ensuring that all community members -- from our student to homeless populations -- have access to safe and clean water as we experience more frequent droughts.
To get this work done, we're going to need to build strong coalitions and find creative solutions to achieve a cleaner, more equitable economy. I will leverage my relationships on the local, state and national level to do just this. I will insist that all our reforms include locally-focused mechanisms for equity in my district, even as we consider statewide and global goals. We can and should prove through our work in California that environmental progress need not come at the expense of justice or economic growth; rather, our environmental and energy reforms can protect and champion our communities, our environment, and our economy, both here at home and around the world.
As your Assemblywoman, here's what I will fight for:
Continue California's Leadership on Climate Change:
I will be a strong and relentless champion for steering California toward a clean, renewable energy future by advocating for legislation that sets an ambitious 100% clean energy target by 2045. I will work to ensure we meet or increase our goal of 5 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030 and support legislation that promotes zero-emission public transportation. I also support SB964, which encourages state divestments in fossil fuels, and would support a statewide ban or moratorium on new fracking operations.
I support local communities in leading the charge towards clean energy in their neighborhoods, particularly through increasing our transit-oriented housing and providing clean, affordable public transportation options. Community Choice Aggregation programs represent an exciting opportunity for communities to exceed the state's already-ambitious clean energy targets. As CCAs develop, it will be important to monitor grid reliability, strengthen energy storage procurement requirements, ensure project-labor agreements, and protect low-income consumers, so that CCAs can be a competitive and sustainable solution.
At the same time, we should be investing in research and development for new technologies that drive down the cost of renewable energy generation installation and storage. We also need more and better clean energy training programs so that California's workforce -- and especially low-income workers -- is positioned to take advantage of this dynamic economic evolution.
As we work to reduce carbon emissions and associated pollution, we should continue to support and refine our market for greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Though it needs reform to better hold local polluters accountable, we should be proud that our California Cap-and-Trade Program serves as a model for the nation and the world. Our efforts are an especially important tool for developing countries, who are now producing 60% of current global emissions as their economies evolve. We should continue this global leadership with our cap-and-trade model, but we need to do more to ensure that revenues generated by the carbon market directly benefit communities that have borne the brunt of climate pollution. And we need to make sure that just because we have a strong carbon market, we don't forget to enact direct regulations on high-emitting refineries near impacted communities. This is not an either/or proposition; it's a both/and. And I will work to hold corporations that aim to maximize their profits by passing the costs of pollution onto poorer communities and communities of color to account.
Fight for Environmental Justice By Improving Local Air Quality:
Our fossil-fuel-dependent economy has created a public health crisis throughout California. Low-income communities and communities of color experience disproportionate health impacts of air pollution due to a history of racist zoning practices and poor urban planning -- a reality our government needs to own and reverse through careful policy planning. People in these communities often live closer to major freeways and refineries -- like the Chevron refinery in Richmond -- and consequently have increased rates of asthma and a host of other environmentally caused health problems.
This is injustice, plain and simple.
If elected, I pledge to work closely with environmental justice experts and advocates to push funding and legislation that meets the public health needs of these communities.
I would fight for more regulations and accountability measures to address the health and safety of our citizens who live in environmentally and economically burdened communities. I would also work to make sure that the state creates sufficient plan guidelines for the new Community Air Protection Program (created by AB617), and expands funding for more local programs aimed at improving air quality in pollution-impacted communities. Local boards, such as the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, should also study and be allowed to enact stricter restrictions on emissions from refineries as they deem fit for public safety. And I would fight for further refinements to and broader use of Cal EnviroScreen to fully understand the impacts of pollution on low-income communities and communities of color, and make sure community members have access to information about their air quality.
These are all steps I believe we must take now to improve public health and safety in our communities. In the long run, to fix and reverse the inequitable impacts of air pollution, we need to do more to change our transportation and city planning habits. Vehicles are now the biggest emitters of pollution in the US, and research shows that the air pollution they create damages nearly every organ system in the body. Low-income communities and communities of color, who are more likely to live near heavily-trafficked areas like freeways, will continue to bear the brunt of this pollution until we change the way we live and travel.
That means promoting the construction of dense housing around transit stations, strengthening our position on tailpipe emissions, and accelerating production of lower emission and electric vehicles (EVs) and electrification of the heavy-duty sector, our state vehicle fleet, and Transportation Network Company fleet. It means making these vehicles (and EV charging stations ) accessible, sustainable, and affordable for all communities, which we can encourage by strengthening state building codes to require EV-charging ready wiring in all new construction and strengthening our position on tailpipe emissions. And it means spurring the design of cities and communities that promote car-less travel and, investing in our public transportation systems, and potentially exploring changes to gas taxes and vehicle licensing fees.
Protect Community Access to Clean Water
In a time when climate change and drought threaten our access to water, I will fight for water security for all. I will promote policies aimed at water recycling, water conservation, infrastructure improvements, better groundwater management, and development of a more resilient agriculture-water system.
To adapt to this new pattern, the Legislature should propose investments that address both the structural and behavioral challenges that we face around water scarcity and consumption. The Legislature should support investments in our water infrastructure, like fixing the pipes that currently leak 10% of urban water in California, and replacing any hazardous pipes in schools. Simultaneously, I believe the Legislature should encourage households to adopt greywater reuse systems and green building ordinances, and lead the way on better groundwater management through replenishing our aquifers and improving the State Groundwater Control Act. Lastly, we should pass legislation that helps develop a resilient agriculture-water system that can grow and provide nutritious food and sustain itself between periods of drought.
As part of addressing water security, we must ensure that clean water is available to all our populations, including our homeless population. Access to water is guaranteed as a human right under both international and state law. However, countless unsheltered California homeless residents are not accessing this right, which is an injustice we must address through our homelessness policies and public programs.
I do not support the Governor's previous or current Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build tunnels that direct water under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Southern California. The project is unnecessarily costly, will do nothing to deter unsustainable water use, and further imperils the habitats for native and migratory species in the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta. It also undercuts efforts to improve local water independence.
Preserve and Defend Our Public Land, Bay, and Coastlines
In addition to suffering from drought, our land and our communities are deeply suffering from recent wildfires, which are only likely to increase in frequency due to climate change. My dad fought wildfires for the U.S. Forest Service for 35 years: this is an issue close to home for me. To prevent more wildfire disasters, I believe we should pass legislation aimed at three goals: ecosystem restoration (thinning crowded forests and dead trees and using prescribed fire, to prevent the buildup of flammable vegetation); community preparedness (helping community leaders develop local disaster preparedness plans); and wildfire response (securing funding for proper staff and equipment resources for rapid response).
I also believe we need to protect our bay and coastlines from overdevelopment -- not only to maintain their beauty for generations to enjoy, but also to avoid the dangers of flooding from sea-level rise. That includes opposing any efforts to weaken the California Coastal Act or the authority of the SF Bay Conservation and Development Commission and the California Coastal Commission, and strengthening these agencies' authority to require planning for projected sea level rise and invest in protecting critical infrastructure around the bay, including our airports. And it includes opposing any new efforts by the Trump Administration to increase offshore drilling in California waters. I would also work to establish steady, reliable funding to restore our wetlands that serve as natural flood and storm barriers, and invest in infrastructure like seawalls to protect against the impacts of climate change on our coasts.
Resist Trump's Dangerous Environmental Policies
The Trump Administration's refusal to recognize climate change as a scientific reality should not and will not deter California from leading the world towards environmental sustainability and climate resilience. I strongly support legislative efforts (such as SB 49, 50, and 51) to protect California from federal rollbacks of environmental protections, and to also maintain or even strengthen existing state protections. This includes ensuring that the California Air Resources Board maintains its authority under the federal Clean Air Act to enact stricter vehicle emissions standards. This includes safeguarding our public lands from private development and resource extraction and preventing censorship and destruction of scientific information and data. And it includes increasing funding to State Attorney General's budget to litigate federal attacks on CA environment and energy laws.
Furthermore, I believe we shouldn't simply play defense against Trump Administration actions -- we should continue to promulgate and push forward an affirmative, equitable, and proactive policy agenda in support of renewables, energy efficiency, and just environmental and climate policy solutions that can serve as a model for the rest of the country and the world.

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