Proponents launch campaign for Proposition 30 passage
Supporters call it the “Clean Cars and Clean Air Act,” and they say after decades of breathing polluted air, residents deserve to breathe air that won’t make their children sick and shorten the lives of their parents and grandparents.
With increasing numbers of wildfires and record heat waves as a recent backdrop, supporters in Bakersfield on Thursday launched a campaign calling for the passage of Proposition 30, a contentious climate-action ballot initiative they say will help millions of Californians afford electric vehicles, create a statewide EV charging network and reduce catastrophic wildfires by funding forest management, more firefighters and firefighting equipment.
“Prop. 30 is supported by a broad coalition, consisting of labor, environmental public health groups, along with businesses and elected officials,” Yes on 30’s Lauren Ashe said at a news conference Thursday at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union, Local 428, in Bakersfield.
And though the initiative is necessary in California, Ashe argued, it’s critically needed in Bakersfield and the southern San Joaquin Valley, an area that often suffers from the worst or second-worst air quality in the nation.
Andrew Escamilla, ballot initiative coordinator for California Environmental Voters, said Valley residents can feel it in their lungs, and often must pay for it with their lives.
“It is only going to get worse unless we act now,” he said.
“Luckily, we have the science and technology” to solve these problems, Escamilla said.
If it passes on Nov. 8, the initiative will fund programs to reduce air pollution and prevent wildfires by imposing a new tax on personal income over $2 million per year.
Tax revenues would support zero-emission vehicle purchase incentives, a broad network of vehicle-charging stations and would focus on wildfire prevention — all by raising $3.5 billion to $5 billion annually.
Critics point out the ballot measure has been heavily funded by the ride-hailing company Lyft, which they say figures to benefit greatly if the initiative passes. The state of California has ruled 90 percent of ride-hail vehicles must be electric by 2030, and Prop. 30 opponents say Lyft is trying to force millionaire taxpayers to foot the bill, rather than spend corporate dollars to comply with the new law.
State Treasurer Fiona Ma has come out publicly against Prop. 30, as has Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In an interview with Calmatters, Ma said the measure singles out wealthy taxpayers — ones whom the state relies on for much of its revenues. Ma says wealthy taxpayers have been “demonized,” and she worries that they will leave the state if they’re singled out.
In an ad, Newsom calls Prop. 30 “a Trojan horse that puts corporate welfare above the fiscal welfare of our entire state.”
But Ashe countered California boasts one of the largest economies in the world, the kind of economy that attracts investors, including millionaires.
“It is true that Lyft is a financial contributor to Yes on 30, however, when you look at the California Air Resources Board, they actually did an estimate of how many miles Lyft drivers are (traveling) on state of California roads,” she said.
Those miles represent less than 1 percent of all vehicle miles driven in the state, she said. Proposition 30 will benefit ride-hail drivers, she said, but it will also benefit all other drivers who will be eligible for the incentives that will make purchasing and driving an EV more affordable.
Dave Thomas, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 428, spoke Thursday in support of Proposition 30.
“Proposition 30 is a win, win, win for everyone,” Thomas said.
EVS are the future of transportation in California, he said. And Proposition 30 doesn’t do it piecemeal, but is aggressive in moving the state forward.
“In the last eight years, my wife and I have put on over 180,000 miles, all-electric,” Thomas said.
Driving electric saved them money, he said, and gas prices are trending upward, and will continue moving in that direction.
The ballot initiative, he said, will fund the transition from gasolineand diesel-powered vehicles to electric, a revolution in transportation that will bring dramatic improvements to the San Joaquin Valley’s dangerously polluted air.
Reporter Steven Mayer can be reached at 661-395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayertbc.