Leopard Sharks Ocean Day lobby team including Miranda Glisson and Ashley Eagle-Gibbs meeting with Senator Laird’s office
By: Miranda Glisson, EAC Legal and Policy Intern
On April 11th, our team participated in the 18th annual California Ocean Day! This was the first Ocean Day back in person after the past few years of being remote due to COVID-19 measures. This annual event brings together advocates, leaders, experts, and students together to lobby in support of protecting California's coast. At the state’s capital, multiple lobby groups were able to meet with Assembly Members and Senators to advocate for the support of bills that will aid the ocean in a variety of ways.
The day started with multiple keynote speakers including a former CalEPA Secretary, Terry Tamminen, along with Senator Lena Gonzalez. Here the importance of ocean protection was celebrated and discussed along with the significance of including diverse insights from multiple communities including Tribal communities.
We collectively advocated for a variety of bills throughout the day that ranged from renewable energy production to ocean protection, public access, and aquatic or blue carbon. SB 272 is a relevant climate adaptation bill that will allocate funding to cities that have been labeled as affected by sea level rise to help strengthen and build infrastructure to face growing adverse climate change impacts. Other bills including AB 45 and AB 1407 supporting blue carbon sequestration, including growing kelp forests. SB 559 and SB 704 limit growing oil and gas infrastructure and end offshore oil drilling which will improve the safety of the ocean’s health and help California grow into a renewable energy state. Other bills were supported and discussed that included widening access for communities to state beaches and reducing microfiber pollution.
An ongoing topic was reaching the ambitious 30x30 goal Governor Newsom signed. 30x30 refers to the goal to protect 30 percent of California's land and water by 2030. SB 337 (update! This has passed out of the Senate) addresses how 30x30 is progressing and aims to set objectives to keep California on track to reaching its 30x30 goals. There was a high level of support for 30x30, but a shared concern was how difficult it will be to reach 30x30 and that there is still a lot to do.
We met with many State Legislators or their staff in advocacy for these bills. EAC and partners met with Assembly Member Bill Assayli along with Senator Laird and Senator Min. All offices were eager to hear about these bills and some shared their opinions and thoughts as well. We thanked Senator Laird and Min for their work on SB 704, 559, and 272 and believe these bills will have a lasting positive impact.
EAC is excited about the progressive bills being pursued by the State Legislature and will provide ongoing support to work to make California healthier and happier. EAC continues to organize around and track important legislative bills. In addition to lobbying at California Ocean Day, we have registered our support for climate adaptation bill SB 272 and other key bills this year including testimony at hearings in Sacramento and letters in support. Our legislative focus includes ensuring that the California Coastal Act is protected, as it is attacked every year. We are also advocating for restoration of the state’s coastal resilience budget, which cuts have been proposed for.
“California Ocean Day is a powerful day where ocean advocates come together to lobby our representatives to protect our invaluable coastline. It’s an opportunity for fresh and seasoned advocates to share policy goals and learn from each other while influencing California legislation.”
We are thankful to our NGO partners and the steering committee for all of the hard work that they put into this event!
Learn More:
https://californiaoceanday.org/
See our partner and lobby teammate Audubon California’s perspective on the day
