California Proposition 7 (2008)

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California Proposition 7, would have required California utilities to procure half of their power from renewable resources by 2025. In order to make that goal, levels of production of solar, wind and other renewable energy resources would more than quadruple from their current[ when? ] output of 10.9%. [1] It would also require California utilities to increase their purchase of electricity generated from renewable resources by 2% annually to meet Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirements of 40% in 2020 and 50% in 2025. Current law AB32 requires an RPS of 20% by 2010.

Contents

The 42 page measure, 7 pages of which is new law, is an initiated state statute that had qualified for the November 2008 ballot in California, [2] and was disapproved by voters on November 4 of that year.

California State of the United States of America

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 8.8 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

Provisions in the initiative

Estimated fiscal impact

The California Legislative Analyst's Office, the nonpartisan state agency charged with providing a neutral estimate about the fiscal impact on the state of ballot initiatives and state legislative bills, has arrived at the following summary of Prop. 7's estimated costs:

Supporters

The official committee supporting Prop 7 is called Californians for Solar and Clean Energy.

Dolores Huerta American labor leader

Dolores Clara Fernández Huerta is an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Cesar Chavez, is a co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW). Huerta helped organize the Delano grape strike in 1965 in California and was the lead negotiator in the workers' contract that was created after the strike.

For the full list of supporters, see: List of Proposition 7 supporters

Arguments made in favor of Prop. 7

Donors who support Prop. 7

The primary financial backer of the initiative is Peter Sperling.

Peter V. Sperling is one of the 400 wealthiest Americans, and the son of John Sperling. He is the Chairman of Apollo Group, and a co-founder and Chairman of CallWave, Inc. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara and his MBA from the University of Phoenix.

As of September 18, two donors have contributed $5,000 or more to support Prop. 7. They are:

Campaign consultants

Jim Gonzalez, founding partner of the political consulting firm Jim Gonzalez & Associates in Sacramento, is the initiative's chief spokesperson. [6]

Opponents

The official committee opposing Prop. 7 is called Californians Against Another Costly Energy Scheme.

See also: List of Proposition 7 opponents.

Arguments made against Prop. 7

Donors who oppose Prop. 7

As of August 2, three donors are listed as having given $5,000 or more to defeat this initiative. [11] They are:

Campaign consultants

The opposition coalition as of July 14, 2008 had paid about $175,000 to the campaign consulting firm of Townsend, Raimundo, Besler & Usher. [15]

Polling information

A poll released on July 22, 2008 by Field Poll showed Proposition 7 with 63% support and 24% opposition. 82% of those surveyed had no initial awareness of Proposition 7. [16]

Month of Poll In Favor Opposed Undecided
July 2008 63 percent 24 percent 13 percent

Newspapers Opposed to Proposition 7

Path to the ballot

The petition drive to qualify the measure for the ballot was conducted by Progressive Campaigns, Inc. at a cost of $1.367 million. [24]

Lawsuits over ballot language

Supporters and opponents of Proposition 7 filed lawsuits in Sacramento Superior Court regarding the wording of ballot arguments that voters will see in the official voter's guide. [25]

The lawsuit filed by proponents of Proposition 7 claimed that the opposition’s ballot arguments contained false and misleading statements that should have been deleted. Specifically, proponents sued over the opponents' claim that small renewable providers would be shut out of the market. Noting that there is no language in the measure that states that, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny refused to take sides on the issue. [26]

The lawsuit filed by opponents of Proposition 7 wanted the removal of three statements in the voter's guide:

The opponent's petition was denied in its entirety, with Judge Kenny stating that the opponents had not sufficiently established that those statements were misleading.

Greenwashing

The campaign against Proposition 7 has drawn questions about the ties between Pacific Gas & Electric, Sempra, and Southern Cal Edison, and the main environmental groups that have come out against the measure. Articles from the late nineties and 2000-2001 linking the Natural Resources Defense Council to the passage of electricity deregulation, leading to the energy crisis over which Governor Gray Davis was recalled, have resurfaced, leading some to question the veracity of the environmental opposition., . Still more question the independence of groups like the CA League of Conservation Voters (CLVC), the Sierra Club, and Acterra, which have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from either the utilities funding the No on Prop 7 campaign or other major energy companies, and have overlapping board memberships with the utilities.

Opponents to Proposition 7 deflect the charge of greenwashing by pointing to the California Green Party's opposition.

Results

Electoral results by county. CA2008Prop7.png
Electoral results by county.
Proposition 7 [27]
Choice Votes %
X mark.svg No8,155,18164.43
Yes 4,502,235 35.57
Valid votes 12,657,416 92.10
Invalid or blank votes 1,085,761 7.90
Total votes13,743,177100.00

Basic information

Supporters

Opponents

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References

  1. California Distributed Energy Resources Guide
  2. Sacramento Bee: "Renewable power initiative poised for ballot, draws fire, April 8, 2008
  3. Biography of Dr. Donald Aitken
  4. Biography of S. David Freeman
  5. Donors to Prop. 7
  6. "Utilities Push Back Big Against Prop. 7," Sacramento Bee, July 23, 2008
  7. 1 2 San Francisco Chronicle, "Surprise opponents to renewable energy measure", July 5, 2008
  8. Los Angeles Times , "Opponents say California power initiative is ill-advised", April 8, 2008
  9. "California Public Utilities Commission", "Proposition 7 - The Solar and Clean Energy Act of 2008", September 11, 2008
  10. “RENEWABLE ENERGY: Utilities earmark big bucks to stop Calif. ballot measure,” Greenwire, June 19, 2008
  11. List of large donors opposing Prop 7
  12. Money talks loudly in Prop 7 contest
  13. Sacramento Bee, "Large utilities finance anti-7 coalition", September 22
  14. Anti-7 expenditures
  15. July 22 Field Poll results on Proposition 7
  16. "Imperial Valley Press", "Noble Trend Isn't Sound", July 10, 2008
  17. "Riverside Press-Enterprise", "No on 7", September 11, 2008
  18. "San Diego Union-Tribune", "No on Props 7 and 10: Energy measures are ill-Conceived fiascoes", September 12, 2008
  19. San Jose Mercury News, "No is the green vote on Proposition 7", September 13, 2008
  20. "Santa Cruz Sentinel", “As We See It: Vote no on 'green' measures, 7 and 10", September 18, 2008
  21. "Los Angeles Times", "No on Proposition 7: Even environmental groups see problems with this initiative to increase renewable energy", September 19, 2008
  22. "Santa Rosa Press Democrat", "No on Prop. 7", September 25, 2008
  23. Campaign expenditure details
  24. Maclachlan, Malcolm (2008-08-06). "Ballot language battle could be key for Prop. 7". Capitol Weekly. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  25. Young, Samantha (Associated Press writer) (2008-09-25). "Calif. initiatives boost renewable power". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 2008-10-16.[ dead link ]
  26. "Statement of Vote: 2008 General Election" (PDF). California Secretary of State. 2008-12-13.

Additional reading