Most of my adventures are of an outdoor nature, however I was recently invited to join a lobbying effort to promote climate legislation in Sacramento. For the most part I have been ignorant of our legislative processes and have considered lobbying to be the domain of special interest groups with deep pockets.
Can those of us with little financial clout make a difference in public policy, particularly when it comes to climate and environmental issues? After this experience I have to say YES!
This was a two day event sponsored by The Climate Center. March 19 we spent the day listening to presentations as part of the California Climate Policy Summit 2024 and the 20th was devoted to visiting legislative offices to promote several bills. I attended the conference as a representative of First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley. There were three of us, Cherie, Katie and me.
The morning of the 20th we gathered into teams of four or five and headed over to the legislative offices to promote three bills, AB 2256 – Value of Solar, SB 233 – Bidirectional EV Charging and SB 252 – Oil and Gas Divestment. We also talked about budget issues and the possibility of a climate bond. Our lobbying efforts took us to Assembly member Ortega’s office where we dropped off information.
We then went on to Senator Eggman’s office where we met with legislative assistant Alison Kostusak, and then on to Senator Durazo’s office and Assembly representative Lisa Calderon’s office where we met with Maryana Khames and Arnell Rusanganwa.
I was impressed by how attentive the legislative personnel were. They seemed genuinely interested in the information we were providing, took notes and asked intelligent questions. I left this experience feeling like our presence made a difference.
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