"In the weeks before California lawmakers left Sacramento for their summer recess, more than a dozen environmental bills died amid heavy industry opposition in a Legislature overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats.
One would have held oil companies liable for respiratory illness in children who live near their drilling sites. Another would have asked voters to declare a “right to clean water and air” in California. Others would have divested public employee retirement funds from fossil fuels, or stopped state agencies from purchasing plastic bottles.
Legislators say there were many factors in these bills’ demise — the state’s $45-billion budget deficit, for instance, and several lawmakers being out with COVID-19 just before a key deadline.
But there was another common thread: Industries that opposed these bills have a record of financially supporting the Legislature’s moderate Democrats through a mix of campaign contributions and donations to the politicians’ favored charities."
Laura Fitzgerald and Max Harrison-Caldwell report for the Los Angeles Times July 29, 2024.
Advertisement 
