‘Toughest Rules in Nation. Challenge Expected From Automakers’ You know your voice is being heard when an initiative of yours ends up on the front page of The New York Times, which is exactly what happened to Fran Pavley, the incumbent in Tuesday’s District 41 Assembly race, at the end of September. The article detailed how the California Air Resources Board (CARB) had adopted AB 1493, which imposes stringent air emissions limits upon car manufacturers. The regulations will have enormous ramifications for industry and consumers as California is the country’s biggest automobile market, and could set a precedence: New York and six other Northeastern states have indicated they may pass similar restrictions. ‘I was proud to carry AB 1493 in the beginning, and very pleased to see the California Air Resources Board adopt the final regulations last month,’ Pavley said. ‘California is again leading the way in the fight for cleaner air for all of our citizens.’ While the regulations will only apply to vehicles manufactured in the 2009 model year or after, CARB’s adoption of AB 1493 is the culmination of the assemblymember’s four-year effort to get gas emissions from vehicles, which scientists have linked to global warming, drastically reduced’about 30 percent by 2016. Some of the technology needed to meet that target is already on the road in the form of gas-electric hybrid cars, which Pavley herself drives. Since she was elected to the State Legislature in 2000, 23 of the bills Pavley has authored have been passed into law. Besides her global warming bill’AB 1493, signed in 2002 by former Governor Gray Davis’Pavley had 12 bills recently signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another of her environmental bills is AB 1009, which requires trucks entering California from Mexico to meet federal emission standards. Pavley pointed out that ‘air pollution is already the number one environmental health hazard in the state, and is linked to the high rates of asthma and respiratory illnesses in both adults and children.’ Foreign trucks, because they are often older than U.S. vehicles, are generally considered to be heavier polluters. Pavley said she felt compelled to do something in response to a Supreme Court decision that allows Mexican trucks to operate in the United States even though many do not currently meet U.S. air emissions standards. She said she read about the situation ‘in the newspaper, like everyone else.’ Other Pavley bills recently passed include: ”AB 2901, which requires cellular phone makers, effective July 1, 2006, to take back their used products at no cost to the consumer for recycling, reuse or proper disposal. Most cell phones have an average life span of 18 months and currently end up in California landfills. ‘where their hazardous contents can leak out and contaminate the soil and groundwater,’ Pavley said. ”AB 2943 will prohibit, by July 2006, the injection of any pregnant woman or child under three years of age with a vaccine that contains more than trace levels of mercury. Mercury is known to cause brain damage in fetuses and young children. The bill contains an exception to allow mercury vaccines to be used in the event of a public health emergency, bio-terrorist threat, or supply shortage. ”AB 2554, which amends current law to eliminate the earnings limit ($22,000) for certain retired members of the State Teachers’ Retirement System who return to service. ‘While we need to continue to create incentives for college graduates and mid-career individuals to enter the teaching profession, we must work with school districts in the meantime to find ways to encourage highly qualified teachers to help fill the gaps,’ explained Pavley. ‘The bill will encourage more experienced teachers to step into positions such as special education, math and science, which are typically the most difficult to fill.’ While Pavley, a former teacher and former Mayor of Agoura Hills, is pleased ‘that Governor Schwarzenegger signed bills I authored that will allow hybrid vehicles to drive in diamond lanes, allow low-income seniors to postpone property tax payments, and protect consumers from identity theft,’ Pavley said, she is ‘disappointed that he did not sign other important bills of mine that would have reduced pharmaceutical costs to consumers and provided whistleblower protection to government attorneys.’ Since the current campaign began, Pavley said she has only met her Republican opponent, Heather Peters, once ‘at a community debate.’ Also running against Pavley is Libertarian Richard Koffler (see adjacent story). (Editor’s note: Palisadian-Post intern Helen Highberger contributed to this report.)
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