Even if the state Legislature cannot agree on a budget, it can still pass a single bill that would save 65,000 jobs in Southern California and create many more. SB 696 would overturn a moratorium on required permits issued by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and is the key to unfreezing more than 1,100 building and construction projects in the region. Business, labor and municipalities are united in support — now we need to fast-track SB 696 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk.
Under Southern California’s strict air quality rules, businesses and governments adding new equipment must prove a reduction in air pollution. The SCAQMD maintains a special reserve fund of offset credits for projects that are considered an essential public service, research program or innovative technology.
Unfortunately, a lawsuit by an environmental group eliminated that credit bank, halting a wide-range of projects in the region by businesses and governments like the Whittier Police Department, the Long Beach Airport, St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica and many others. Now, providers of essential services, small businesses and others will have to pay up to $4 billion to obtain emission reduction credits — if they are available at all.
It’s ironic that a lawsuit by an environmental group now threatens to stop thousands of current and future projects to upgrade facilities with modern and environmentally-friendly equipment. Their original goal was to stop construction of a power plant in the City of Vernon which would have received one of the credits. Instead, opponents succeeded in jeopardizing thousands of other projects wholly unrelated to the power plant.
Introduced by State Sen. Rod Wright, SB 696 will reinstate the permit program and allow these important projects to move forward. A State Senate committee approved the bill a few weeks ago, but it still awaits final action by the Senate and then approval by the State Assembly.
The L.A. Area Chamber is proud to partner with labor leaders like Richard Slawson, executive secretary of the Los Angeles/Orange County Building & Construction Trades Council, in support of SB 696. We have testified in Sacramento and continue to partner with a large coalition pushing for the bill’s passage as soon as possible.
There may not be much for Sacramento lawmakers to agree on lately, but SB 696 is one of the best, bipartisan opportunities to save existing jobs and create new ones — even in today’s challenging economic climate. Please join us in urging our lawmakers to fast-track SB 696 and get 1,100 projects moving again.