"I'll Be Back": Multi-Billion-$ Green Bond Measure to Return in 2009

California's biggest green jobs bill didn't quite make it to the governor's desk this year, but it went much further than anyone expected. And it will be back, stronger and better, in 2009! SB 1672 (Steinberg) would have invested $2.25 billion in green career education and training, especially for California's disadvantaged communities. We enjoyed small victories as the bill sailed through the State Senate and almost all the way through the Assembly. Alas, the bill got held up in the Assembly Appropriations Committee in the midst of California's worst budget year in recent memory. But we're not worried -- along the way, we've helped amass the largest, most powerful green jobs coalition ever seen in the Golden State. And we're just getting started.

Senator Steinberg has vowed to bring the bill back as his "number one priority" in 2009. He'll be President pro-Tem next year -- add that to our amazing coalition, which includes major organizations representing labor unions, environmental advocacy, business and industry, community and social justice, and YOU -- and we'll be nearly unstoppable.

We also want to thank the core allies who are part of our "Green Jobs Working Group": Green For All, the California Apollo Alliance, the California Labor Federation, the California State Building Trades Council, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Verde Group. This group's combined expertise and clout made it a central anchor of the larger coalition. Together, we helped shape the bill into something that surpassed even our expectations, then move it through the legislature much farther than anyone expected.

Next year, we'll redouble our efforts to ensure that SB 1672 passes both houses of the legislature and is signed into law by the Governor. We will also grow our network of community-based organizations, education and training groups, policy experts, and green businesses to advance our green-collar jobs agenda across the state.