CEJA Statement on 2019 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funding

Since the beginning of 2019, CEJA’s members and partners have brought their stories and voices to the Capitol to ensure that statewide funding to improve their health and quality of life goes to the communities who need it the most. We worked tirelessly, meeting with our state representatives to ensure that our priorities were heard.

From catalytic investments to energy efficiency upgrades in high need disadvantaged communities, here’s how CEJA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund priorities fared in the 2019-2020 California state budget.

 

Transformative Climate Communities

We appreciate the funding increase for the Transformative Climate Communities program over the 2018 allocation; however we are disappointed that this amount falls quite short of the $132 million in the Governor’s May Revise. $60 million is not enough to fund more than one or two communities that are engaging in comprehensive neighborhood transformation. We look forward to working with the Legislature and the administration to appropriate sufficient money to create transformative change in cities and towns throughout California.

 

Methane Reduction – Dairy Digesters

We are pleased that the money for dairy digesters was cut significantly–$34 million versus $99 million–but the fact is we should not be investing any money in dairy digesters. This program is a severe health threat to low-income communities, doesn’t truly address our state’s climate crisis and benefits large dairies.

 

Low-Income Weatherization Program

We look forward to working with the Legislature and the Newsom administration to restore the original funding allocation for the Low-Income Weatherization Program. LIWP provides energy efficiency and solar installations to low-income renter households in disadvantaged communities.

 

AB 617

We are supportive of the AB 617 reporting language that now provides much needed program transparency and accountability to help ensure that emissions are actually reduced in EJ communities.