Category: Testimony & Comments

Greenlining regularly testifies at legislative and regulatory hearings and submits written filings and comments to official bodies. Browse and search these official filings and testimony here.

Comments: California Air Resources Board Must Adopt a Stronger Advanced Clean Truck Rule

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The California Air Resources Board Must Adopt a Stronger Advanced Clean Truck Rule

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Greenlining supports a stronger Advanced Clean Truck rule standard. As it stands, the ACT proposal would result in zero-emission trucks comprising four percent of California’s trucks by 2030; this is an insufficient standard and will fail to address the imminent, severe climate and public health consequences our state faces. We urge the California Air Resources Board to strengthen its proposal through the following mandates:

  1. Increasing the overall mandates to ensure that by 2030 no less than 15 percent of medium and heavy-duty trucks on the road are zero-emitting.
  2. Including Class 2b pickup trucks in the mandates beginning in 2024.
  3. Outlining CARB's longer-term objectives for achieving 100 percent zero-emission trucks in various categories, and explaining how this phase of the rule is consistent with those objectives in attaining federal and state air quality and greenhouse gas objectives.
  4. Committing to adopt corresponding fleet purchase requirements in 2021.

Support Letter: AB 1482 Critical Protections for Low-Income Renters

Posted on by Ashley Johnson
Greenlining supports a comprehensive housing package that includes important tenant protection legislation such as AB 1482. The bill caps annual rent increases at 7% plus inflation, which will provide some stability to cost-burdened households. The housing affordability crisis has left many Californians just one rent increase away from homelessness, and protection against rent gouging will be an important component of any legislative package to address the housing crisis. More than half of renters in the state of California spend at least 30% of their income on housing, including over 80% of low-income Californians; of these, two thirds are people of color. Legislation that protects the most vulnerable households from displacement is crucial to ensuring that Californians of all racial backgrounds and income brackets can thrive.

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Support Letter: AB 961 Community Energy Benefits – Assembly Appropriations

Posted on by Ashley Johnson
Greenlining is sponsoring AB 961, authored by Assembly member Eloise Gomez Reyes of the 47th District. AB 961 would adopt a recommendation in the California Energy Commission’s unanimously adopted SB 350 Low-Income Barriers Study to establish common definitions of “non-energy benefits” or community benefits of clean energy programs, develop standards to measure them, and prioritize projects that promote them in Environmental Justice Communities. This means that regulators would consider additional benefits of clean energy programs, including job creation and improved community health, in evaluating their effectiveness.

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Testimony by Sharon Velasquez on How California Can Protect Consumers

Posted on by Greenlining
Senior Economic Equity Program Manager Sharon Velasquez testified before the California Assembly Banking and Finance Committee in support of the state exploring avenues to better protect consumers, especially those of color. She served as a panelist at an informational hearing called by committee chair Monique Limón entitled The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: An Examination of the CFPB under the current Federal Administration and Options for California to Better Protect its Consumers. In her comments, Velasquez provided recommendations on how California could counterbalance the federal deregulatory agenda and the weakening of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, particularly in the area of fair lending

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Testimony by Anthony Galace in Support of AB 962, Hospital Supplier Diversity

Posted on by Greenlining
Greenlining Institute Health Equity Director Anthony Galace testified before the California Assembly Health Committee in support of AB 962, authored by Asm. Autumn Burke to strengthen the state’s supplier diversity among hospitals. The measure, modeled on successful existing supplier diversity programs, would require major California hospitals to report their level of contracting with businesses owned by by people of color, women, LGBT people, and veterans. Galace told the committee that “AB 962 will allow health care, business, and government leaders to engage in an honest and transparent discussion about leveraging the growth of the health sector to benefit diverse businesses and the communities they serve.”

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Greenlining Sponsor and Support Letter: AB 961 Community Energy Benefits

Posted on by Greenlining

Greenlining is sponsoring AB 961, authored by Assembly member Eloise Gomez Reyes of the 47th District. AB 961 would adopt a recommendation in the California Energy Commission’s unanimously adopted SB 350 Low-Income Barriers Study to establish common definitions of “non-energy benefits” or community benefits of clean energy programs, develop standards to measure them, and prioritize projects that promote them in Environmental Justice Communities. This means that regulators would consider additional benefits of clean energy programs, including job creation and improved community health, in evaluating their effectiveness.

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A Just Transition and the Electric Program Investment Charge – Comments by Madeline Stano at EPIC Symposium 2019

Posted on by Greenlining

Greenlining Institute Energy Equity Legal Counsel Madeline Stano spoke at the California Energy Commission’s EPIC Symposium about how the Electric Program Investment Charge, or EPIC, can play an important part in a just transition to clean energy that benefits low-income and disadvantaged communities. In remarks at the Symposium’s panel on Equitable and Resilient Communities, Stano described how their work in the San Joaquin Valley showed them how low-income communities of color suffer the burdens of a fossil fuel economy, both socially and environmentally.

Stano explained how they view the Electric Program Investment Charge – a ratepayer program that supports development of clean energy technologies — as a just transition policy, quoting Canadian labor organizer Brian Kohler, who said, “The real choice is not jobs or environment. It is both or neither.”

To further that just transition, Stano urged program participants to “meet communities where they are—physically and metaphorically. Go to the communities you seek to build relationships and show up with curiosity and something to offer.”

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Testimony on Southern California Edison’s “Charge Ready 2” Electric Vehicle Charging Station Application

Posted on by Greenlining

The Greenlining Institute’s Environmental Equity Legal Counsel Joel Espino submitted expert testimony regarding Southern California Edison’s application to the California Public Utilities Commission for approval of a $760 million program to deploy 48,000 EV charging ports. Greenlining is part of this proceeding and will continue to advocate for racial equity by ensuring this investment creates the most benefits for low-income people of color.

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Greenlining Support for San Joaquin Valley Energy Access Pilot Projects

Posted on by Greenlining

Greenlining urged the California Public Utilities Commission to approve a series of pilot projects to bring long-overdue relief to low-income rural communities lacking natural gas service, providing residents with cleaner and healthier alternatives for heating and cooking, as well as home weatherization and energy efficiency upgrades.

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Greenlining Strongly Opposes Proposed Rulemaking on Public Charge

Posted on by Greenlining

The Greenlining Institute issued comments strongly opposing the Department of Homeland Security’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Public Charge. The proposed rule would expand the list of factors considered in whether immigrants applying for green cards would be “public charges,” or dependent on government assistance. This rule threatens the food, health and housing security of immigrant families and would undermine our nation’s public health.

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