“It’s a stain on the constitution,” said state Sen. Ben Allen, who authored the legislation to put the repeal before voters. “It was put in place at a very different time where there were very different attitudes. It’s become a barrier.”
“There continues to be a big black hole when it comes to data with relation to the oil and gas industry for how they price gas at the pump for regular Californians,” Allen said... “We’re asking the oil companies on behalf of California drivers, let’s end the games of smoke and mirrors, open your books, show the public your true cost of doing business.”
SB 54 puts the responsibility of plastic waste management and recycling on the producers, as opposed to municipalities and local communities.
Allen said… “It was an effort that came as a result of a long, long negotiation between environmental and business community representatives... It’s an example of people coming together from all sides of the spectrum to help solve a major problem – a major, global, environmental problem.”
California approved the most sweeping restrictions on plastics in the nation late last week, a move that will most likely reshape the way we shop and recycle over the next decade. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 54 on Thursday, the same day the U.S. Supreme Court limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to restrict greenhouse gas emissions. California’s new law, advocates say, provides another route for curbing carbon emissions and trying to sidestep the worst consequences of global warming.
“With this legislation, California continues its tradition of global environmental leadership — tackling a major problem in a way that will move and grow markets, create incentives for investment, and give tools to other states and countries to help play their part in this fight,” said Allen.
The bill is an improvement over the ballot measure in several ways. For one thing, it is more detailed. The bill requires that 65% of all single-use plastic must be getting recycled or composted by 2032, while the ballot measure merely requires all plastic to be recyclable or compostable by 2030. The bill also specifically says that incineration does not count as recycling and includes crucial details about implementation left out of the ballot measure. And significantly, the bill has the buy-in of business, manufacturing groups and plastic industry.
Ben Allen wants to see California re-invest its budget surplus into programs he said have been neglected for too long. Speaking to the Santa Monica Democratic Club last Wednesday, the State Senator said as the fiscal year 2022-23 budget drew nearer, he was advocating in Sacramento for ways to see State money directed toward infrastructure, education and climate resiliency.
(S)taff is in the process of referring suspected fraudulent activity to the state Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. The audit was requested by state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), the author of Senate Bill 664, which mandated it.
But there’s a sheep-like quality to most California politicians as they propose government rebate checks and tinkering with gas taxes rather than attacking the real problem – oil company greed.
One exception to this pattern is Democratic state Sen. Ben Allen of western Los Angeles County, who proposes that oil refiners be forced to disclose once a month their per-gallon gasoline profit margins and what they pay for crude oil. He says this would allow Californians to know at last just how much the oil companies profit from their gasoline gouging.
Said Allen, “We ask the oil companies: Let’s
State Sen. Ben Allen announced legislation to require refiners to publicize how much they pay for crude oil, how much it costs to refine that oil, and the amount of profit they make per gallon of gas they sell.
“What we’re trying to get at is what’s behind this mystery gas surcharge,” Allen said.
