California has the worst air pollution in the country. According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), over 90% of Californians live in areas where the air is unsafe to breathe. Looking more closely at the San Joaquin Valley, where the Foundation currently focuses its public policy activities, the statistics are even more disturbing:

• 1 in 3 Valley families has a member with a respiratory ailment.
  
• 1 in 6 of the region's children and 1 in 8 adults suffer from asthma.
  
• There are more than 1,200 premature deaths each year in the Valley due to particulate matter pollution.
  

Since our inception in 1999, we have focused our environmental legislative agenda in the area of cleaning up the air in California, with attention to mobile source pollution. Since 2003 we have actively lobbied to improve air quality in the San Joaquin Valley, one of the nation's most polluted regions. The Valley's poor air quality exacerbates current economic, social, and health challenges, particularly for low-income communities and communities of color. We are a founding member of the Central Valley Air Quality (CVAQ) Coalition, made up of community, public health and environmental organizations and individuals from the San Joaquin Valley and around the state working to improve the region's air.

In prior years, we have worked in collaboration with leading California environmental and public health organizations on a number of major legislative and regulatory initiatives. In February 2005, the Foundation and the Union of Concerned Scientists released "Clearing the Air in the San Joaquin Valley,” a report that highlighted the air quality crisis facing that region.

We will continue to work on broader environmental issues like these when there is an air quality impact on the San Joaquin Valley.

California Legislation

In each California state legislative session, the Foundation works on numerous, often complementary, State Senate and Assembly bills in an effort to improve air quality in the state. Our primary public policy focus is reducing air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley. MORE...

California Regulatory Activities

While often the most visible and heated environmental struggles occur in the legislative process, a law's ultimate impact depends on its regulatory enforcement. For this reason, the Foundation closely scrutinizes policymaking progression, from a bill's introduction to its final implementation. MORE...

Other Lobbying Efforts

The Foundation often takes positions on ballot initiatives or other measures throughout the year. MORE...