Enviro groups oppose recall + What to do with e-commerce waste + DA’s oppose robbery bill

Andrew Sheeler
·5 min read

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

ENVIRO GROUPS REJECT RECALL

Via Lara Korte...

You can add environmental justice groups to your roster of anti-recall advocates.

On Monday, the Sierra Club California, NRDC Action Fund, California Environmental Justice Alliance Action and California League of Conservation Voters condemned the effort to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The groups said a recall would disrupt and halt progress on policies that Californians need now, and is a “distraction from critical issues facing the state,” including the pandemic and climate change.

“This particular recall effort is the product of polluting industries and their allies who are determined to, among other things, abandon rules that protect the environment, including those that advance efforts to address climate change. If this recall succeeds, we are likely to end up with at least one year of governance by a new administration that will be dangerously focused on rolling back California’s environmental gains,” said Victoria Rome, California Advocacy Senior Advisor, NRDC Action Fund

“Should we overturn the will of the electorate through a special election based on deceptive, racist ideas promoted by extremists? Absolutely not. We remain loyal to the environment, social justice and democracy. We strongly oppose the recall,” said Kathryn Phillips, Director, Sierra Club California.

“We can’t derail the life-saving progress that’s being made and will work to ensure voters see through this recall for what it is: a right-wing attempt to undermine our state’s values, and the safety and well-being of Californians. Our state government must remain strong and stay the course,” said Mary Creasman, CEO, California League of Conservation Voters.

ICYMI: Recall supporters often cite their frustration with Newsom’s COVID-19 policies as the reason he should be booted from office. But the original petition, which was filed in February 2020, doesn’t mention the pandemic.

BILL TARGETS SINGLE-USE PLASTICS

California lawmakers are set to tackle the problem of proliferating single-use plastics generated in the e-commerce marketplace.

AB 1371 aims to phase out certain single-use plastic packaging that is often used in direct-to-consumer e-commerce, according to a statement from the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale.

“The amount of single-use, non-recyclable plastic being used in packaging only continues to skyrocket and its impacts on our environment are disturbing and costly,” Friedman said in a statement. “These plastics, used for a very short period of time, are ending up in our waterways, clogging our waste systems, and worst of all — they’ll take centuries to degrade. As we continue to shift more towards online retailers, we have to ensure they’re operating sustainably.”

The bill targets such single-use plastics including shipping envelopes and packaging materials like bubble wrap and packing peanuts, which “becomes waste immediately after a package is opened where it is then landfilled, burned, or enters and pollutes the environment,” Friedman’s office said.

The assemblywoman’s office points out that most municipal recycling programs do not accept such single-use plastics, and that in the U.S. alone 469 million pounds of plastic packaging waste was generated in e-commerce business in 2019.

AB 1371 faces its first hearing, before the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, on April 14.

DISTRICT ATTORNEYS TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST BILL

The California District Attorneys Association on Tuesday is set to speak out against SB 82, a bill by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, that would downgrade certain felony robbery offenses to misdemeanor charges of petty theft.

“Robbery is robbery and most Californians understand that,” said El Dorado County District Attorney and CDAA President Vern Pierson in a statement. “It’s too bad Senator Skinner doesn’t understand it. Ask the victims of crimes who have been put in fear of their lives if they consider a robbery to be petty. I can assure you they do not.”

Skinner’s office said in a statement announcing the bill that it would “establish a clear distinction between theft and robbery for cases when no deadly weapon was used and no one was seriously injured.”

SB 82 “will help ensure that in the case of theft, the punishment meets the crime,” Skinner said in a statement.

Speaking at a press conference at 11 a.m. on Tuesday will be Pierson, as well as several other individuals, including Ron Fong, CEO of the California Grocers Association, Patricia Wenskunas, CEO of Crime Survivors, Inc., and Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.

The CDAA says that SB 82 “has generated strong opposition from a wide swath of Californians from law enforcement officials to members of the Asian/Pacific Islander community following a series of attacks on Asian Americans in the Bay Area and across the nation.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“These dangerous proposals should produce outrage not praise and imitation.”

- Gov. Gavin Newsom, responding via Twitter to a story about Florida lawmakers considering a bill criminalizing giving voters waiting in line something to eat or drink.

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