The final vote was 6-0 in favor of AB 2222 (Holden, D-Pasadena) yesterday in the 7-member Senate Environmental Quality Committee—viewed as a clearing house for all GHG-related bills. (Senator Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado, was not in attendance and did not vote.) The hearing room was packed as the committee was considering some 35 bills, and there was a long line of people urging a yes vote on AB 2222, including Metro lobbyist Andrew Antwih, who reminisced about the student transit pass he used to ride RTD buses—"rough, tough and dangerous," he said the bus system was then called—to and from school in the 1980s in South LA.

Reference to the GHG Reduction Fund was removed from the bill—which would create a program to provide discounted passes to low-income K-12 and public college and university students statewide—to help ensure passage since the Cap & Trade program has become, to quote a recent LA Times story, "mired in legal, financial and political troubles that threaten to derail the state’s plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions." Assemblymember Chris Holden, the bill's author, as well as co-sponsors Move LA, Transform and other supporters will be searching for other funding sources for student passes over the next month. The bill was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where it is likely to be put on suspense.

We will keep you informed! Thank you so much for your help!

Supporters of AB 2222 include: Gamaliel of California ° Housing California ° Investing in Place ° Kings Canyon Unified School District ° LA Mas ° LAANE ° Leadership Council for Justice and Accountability ° Long Beach Community College District ° Los Angeles Business Council ° Los Angeles Community College District ° Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition ° Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority ° Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative ° Los Angeles Urban League ° Los Angeles Walks ° Los Rios Community College District ° Mt. San Antonio College ° Orange County Transportation Authority ° Pacoima Beautiful ° Pasadena Area Community College District ° Peralta Community College District ° PolicyLink ° Prevention Institute ° Public Advocates ° Safe Routes to School ° San Diego Community College District ° San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District ° San Jose Evergreen Community College District ° SLATE Z ° Southeast Asian Community Alliance ° The Trust for Public Land ° Union of Concerned Scientists ° University of California, Los Angeles ° University of Southern California (USC) ° Ventura County Transportation Commission ° Youth Policy Institute