This is going to a vote today and Bennett won’t publicly commit! If he’s not yours, do you know how your assemblymember is voting on this important bill?

Minimal call or email script to Assemblymembers: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Assemblymember[____] to know that I want them to support to SB-1374 – Net Energy Metering, that allows schools, farms, apartment buildings and others to use the solar power they generate, instead of having to buy all their power at market rates from greedy investor-owned utility companies. (Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric).

• State Assemblymember Steve Bennett: (CA-38): email, SAC (916) 319-2038, VTA (805) 485-4745
• Not your person? Don’t know who is? : findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.

(Indivisible CA Green Team ) “We need to fight the Utility Tax all the way. Currently, it is uncapped, which means $24/month is just the start. Utilities have been clear that their intention is have the utility tax rise to $80 a month or more!” Related and just as bad – utility companies use our money to pay for lobbying to ensure that we never actually get affordable clean energy.

BECAUSE OF “FURIOUS CONSTITUENTS BLOWING UP THEIR PHONES”, a group of Democratic lawmakers, including Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, introduced AB 1999, which would cap their tax at $5 for low-income folks, and $10 for others. Then it was “quietly shelved in the Assembly without receiving a single vote,” thanks to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas.

(Revised 05/10/24) BECAUSE OF YOUR CALLS, AB-1999 IS BACK! – with a compromise – it caps the Utility Tax at $24 a month, limits increases to inflation, and sunsets the tax after three years. Yes, it’s still twice the national utility tax average, BUT IT IS CAPPED! That means it can only rise with the cost of inflation and cannot jump to $70 or $100 a month without legislation (PG&E wanted to START with $92!), and puts the whole process in the public eye. Even with this compromise – a “YES” vote is not an easy lift and the results will be felt by low and medium users first. (Check out the chart below under “Deeper Dive!”) Tell your legislators that you are tired at the endless price-gouging of investor-owned-utilities (IOU) like PG&E!

VOTING IS WEDNESDAY 5/15! Make your calls on Monday and Tuesday!!!

Part #1: “BLOW UP THE PHONES” of Assemblymember Speaker Rivas, who derailed AB-1999

The oligarchs behind Project 2025 are not just interested in the demise of democracy on a federal level. We must remain vigilant to their profiteering incursions at state and local levels as well.

(What the heck is Project 2025? Quick primer here.)

(Indivisible CA Green Team ) Our calls have immense power! But it’s a process and we can’t let up.

• Thanks to everyone’s calls, Senator Becker’s solar bill (SB 1374 – restoring owners’ rights to credited for consuming their own solar energy) just passed in the Senate. One week ago they did not have the votes.
• Thanks to everyone’s calls, Asm. Jacqui Irwin’s AB 1999, which caps utility companies endless appetite for tax increases, did not “die” at the request of utility lobbyists, who’ve been funding climate opposition with our money. Your calls to Asm. Petri Norris kept it going.
• Now, we need calls to rescue Irwin’s bill from legislative limbo. Assembly Speaker Rivas has “parked” it the Rules Committee,’ where it can be conveniently forgotten. Make sure he know we are watching by CALLING HIM OUT EVERY DAY!