AEP's Public Policy Program
Letters from the AEP President | Updates, Snapshots and Reports | AEP Legislative Review Committee | Important Links
AEP's
Public Policy Program is guided by a set of core values and guiding principles developed by AEP’s Legislative Review Committee. These values and principles guide the committee’s actions with respect to state legislative and regulatory proposals of importance to environmental professionals. Primary areas of interest to the committee include: the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), environmental planning, implementation of environmental protection programs, natural resources management and conservation, biological resources and “special status species” protection, and, most recently, climate change and global warming. The work of the committee is coordinated by AEP’s Capital lobbyist, Allan Lind (lindallan@yahoo.com).
Letters from the AEP President
- Final Letter on CEQA litigation, February 24, 2009
- Comments On Proposed Amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines, August 26, 2009
- Proposed Elimination of the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, June 30, 2009
- Determination of Drought Emergency Projects, June 1, 2009
- Proposed CEQA Guideline Changes, February 2, 2009
- Economic Stimulus and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), January 21, 2009
- Freeze on AB 55 Loans, January 21, 2009
"State Capital Updates", "Capital Snapshots" and "Special Reports"
AEP's lobbyist, Allan Lind, provides the membership with a quasi-monthly Capital Snapshot, a quarterly State Capital Update and Special Reports. A Special Report is typically produced in connection with a specific event or legislative milestone (e.g., a year-end legislative summary report). The Capital Snapshot is a monthly summary of what's happening in the State Capital that could affect the interests of AEP members. The State Capital Update is a quarterly article appearing in AEP's Environmental Assessor to provide an in-depth analysis of state government affairs in Sacramento. (The Environmental Assessor is distributed as an insert to AEP’s quarterly Environmental Monitor, which is sent to all AEP members.)
AEP Legislative Committee
As always, the AEP Legislative Committee welcomes comments and advice on legislation from the general membership. For more information about the AEP Legislative Committee contact your chapter representative. The AEP Legislative Committee includes representatives from all AEP chapters:
Important Links
- Legislation: The fastest way to get copies of any legislative bills, bill analyses, voting records, legislative history and any signing and veto messages is from the California Legislatures official website: www.leginfo.ca.gov. You can also order a printed copy of any bill (single copies are always free) by writing directly to:
The Bill Room
State Capitol (Room B-32)
Sacramento, CA 95814-4906
- Legislators, Legislative Process and Organization: If you want to find your state representatives in the State Capitol, or who sits on what committee, or how a bill becomes a law, etc., check out: http://www.legislature.ca.gov/
- Ballot Measures: A convenient summary of current and past ballot measures can be found at the web site of the Office of the Legislative Analyst (www.lao.ca.gov). The LAOs summaries of current and past ballot measures can be found at: http://www.lao.ca.gov/laoapp/ballot_source/Propositions.aspx.
- CERES: The California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES) is an information system developed by the California Resources Agency to facilitate access to a variety of electronic data describing California's rich and diverse environments. The goal of CERES is to improve environmental analysis and planning by integrating natural and cultural resource information from multiple contributors and by making it available and useful to a wide variety of users. (CERES) can be found at: http://www.ceres.ca.gov/.
- "CEQA Web": CERES also maintains "CEQA Web" (http://ceres.ca.gov/ceqa/), the official site for Resources Agency actions affecting CEQA. Among other things, CEQA Web includes the CEQA Statute, CEQA Guidelines, a great CEQA process flow chart, and several important links to other CEQA-related information.
- CEQA Guidelines: The Governor's Office of Planning and Research is responsible for developing guidelines for the implementation of CEQA. OPR is also home for the State Clearinghouse for CEQA documents and OPR periodically issues important notices concerning interpretations of CEQA guidelines and the effects of new laws on the operation of CEQA. For more information on OPR, check out: http://www.opr.ca.gov/.
- CEIC The California Environmental Information Catalog (http://ceic.resources.ca.gov/)is an online directory for reporting and discovery of information resources for California. Participants include cities, counties, utilities, state and federal agencies, private businesses and academic institutions that have spatial and other types of data resources. The Catalog has been developed through a collaborative effort with the California Geographic Information Association, California Environmental Resources Evaluation System, and the Federal Geographic Data Committee.