Governor’s May Revise Includes Critical Investments for Environmental Justice Communities
Budget surplus is “historic window” to create new climate job training, cap dangerous oil wells, and invest billions in utilities, housing, and climate resilience
May 14, 2021 — Sacramento — Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom released his May revision of the 2021 state budget with investments in critical environmental justice priorities, including $140 million for the Transformative Climate Communities Program (TCC) and a proposed $2 billion to relieve energy and water debt.
Advocates applaud the Governor’s proposal and look to the Legislature to approve and increase the Governor’s numbers. With an unprecedented $75.5 billion surplus, environmental justice advocates urge Senate and Assembly leadership to make deeper investments to relieve California’s energy debt and climate crises, including the proposal for a historic Climate Remediation Workforce program.
As 150,000 Californians go unhoused and hundreds of thousands face housing insecurity, CEJA praised the critical infusion of funding towards housing, utility debt and environmental justice programs as critical “starting numbers” for the state’s recovery, while calling for greater longevity for these programs. Advocates cited the $140 million in general funds for the TCC program —$420 million over the course of three years —as the kind of forward looking investments in comprehensive, neighborhood-level climate justice solutions that our state requires and frontline communities deserve.
As low income, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islander communities confront a COVID-19 recovery along with record poor air quality and toxic pollution across the state, advocates are calling for sustained, multi-year funding for emissions reductions, water, utilities, and housing debt relief programs.
Environmental justice and equity advocates cite the surplus — the result of the wealthiest Californians further consolidating their wealth during the pandemic — as a historic window to build resilience for the state’s most vulnerable communities. With thousands of dangerous, leaking wells across the state, advocates are proposing the creation of a new climate workforce development program to create High Road jobs with good labor protections and bring the state closer to meeting our climate and equity goals.
Below, please find quotes from members of the California Environmental Justice Alliance responding to the 2021 May Budget Revise:
“Water, housing, clean air and energy are human rights. The Governor’s historic funding for the Transformative Climate Communities Program and proposed $2 billion to address the utility debt crisis are powerful starting numbers. We commend the Governor’s leadership and proposed investments in communities of color and
low-income communities struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Tiffany Eng with the California Environmental Justice Alliance. “As a state however, we can and must go further and faster to meet our climate and equity goals. With an unprecedented budget surplus, now is the time for Assembly and Senate leadership to fully fund environmental and climate justice priorities for California communities.”
“California’s housing crisis did not begin in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic left many Californians without the means to pay their rent and caused an explosion of rental debt. We are therefore pleased to see the Governor’s commitment of $5.2 billion dollars to address rental debt and to keep people housed during this public health emergency,” said Jamie Katz, Staff Attorney with the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability. “We urge the Governor to ensure tenants are able to receive full debt relief regardless of landlord participation, to extend eviction protections beyond June 30th until California’s economy recovers, and to allocate $200 million toward legal representation for tenants during and in the aftermath of this crisis.”
“Fossil fuel workers in Kern County are losing their jobs in real time. Meanwhile, 300,000 oil wells and contaminated sites await clean-up and pose a current risk to communities.” said Ingrid Brostrom, Assistant Director with the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment. “The Governor has a tremendous opportunity to clean our state, protect our communities, and offer High Road employment opportunities for union workers. Bold ideas, like a California Remediation Workforce, with strong labor protections, livable wages, and union jobs can usher in the kind of labor-environmental justice partnerships that California needs.”
“The Transformative Climate Communities Program shifts resources into communities that have been historically ignored, divested, and hit hardest by climate change. These funds are critical to communities like Barrio Logan which is in the 98th percentile statewide for diesel air pollution and where the children have more than double the asthma emergency room visits than the rest of the region,” said Julie Corrales, Barrio Logan Policy Advocate with the Environmental Health Coalition. “These funds are helping the community plan for projects that protect the health of local families, like parks and tree canopy, as well as affordable housing. The Governor’s multi-year funding is an important investment that will help create stability to this critical program to rectify historical injustices, racist land-use policies, and environmental racism.”
“Even before the pandemic, environmental justice communities disproportionately bore both the pollution and energy burden in our extractive energy system,” said Connie Cho of Communities for a Better Environment. “Over a year into the crisis, our communities continue to experience severe financial hardships with no visible recovery
in sight. The Governor’s May revision, with $1 billion for electricity debt relief and $1 billion for water debt, is a historic starting point for utility justice. We applaud the Governor and urge Assembly and Senate leadership to invest even further to protect all residents from the life-threatening risk of disconnection by relieving residents’ debt with an additional $1 billion for electricity.”
“Funding the creation of community resilience centers is an opportunity to comprehensively build the resilience of our neighborhood institutions before disasters strike,” said Amee Raval of Asian Pacific Environmental Network. “As the climate crisis intensifies amidst a record-breaking drought and worsening extreme heat and wildfires, it is critically imminent that substantial resources are directed towards these community-driven solutions.”
“While California has ambitious clean energy goals, low income and communities of color are often left out of the transition and cannot access clean energy upgrades and savings,” said Shina Robinson of Asian Pacific Environmental Network. “We urge the Legislature to increase funding for the Low Income Weatherization Program (LIWP) — a foundational program for environmental justice. With a proven track record of delivering household economic, health, and climate benefits while reducing greenhouse gases, LIWP — unlike many other programs — reaches overlooked rural and farmworker communities. As we praise aspects of the Governor’s budget, we hope that more consistent funding could lift LIWP to its full potential.”
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