California Environmental Voters (also called EnviroVoters), formerly the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV), is a

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...

and educational organization which focuses on

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

issues affecting

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is affiliated with the

League of Conservation Voters The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American environmental advocacy group. LCV says that it "advocates for sound environmental laws and policies, holds elected officials accountable for their votes and actions, and elects pro-environmen ...

, a national organization. Organized as a

501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...

, the organization's mission is to protect California's environmental quality by increasing public awareness of the environmental performance of all elected officials, working to elect environmentally responsible candidates, and holding them accountable to the environmental agenda once elected.

Strategies

At the end of each legislative year, California Environmental Voters publishes the California Environmental Scorecard. The Scorecard, which California Environmental Voters describes as "the definitive barometer of environmental politics in Sacramento", rates the performance of the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legisla ...

and the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

on key environmental legislation. The Scorecard is distributed to 35,000 California Environmental Voters members, other environmental organizations, and the

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...

. California Environmental Voters has also awarded an Environmental Leadership Award, which in 2003 went to

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...

. California Environmental Voters conducts research on candidates in order to make electoral endorsements. They assist endorsed candidates with media, fundraising, and grassroots organizing strategies and campaign to educate voters about candidates' environmental records. California Environmental Voters also works with local Leagues of Conservation Voters groups to elect environmental candidates at the local level. California Environmental Voters campaigns for environmental legislation in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

in collaboration with the greater environmental community. The organization maintains a lobbying presence in Sacramento.

Affiliations

The California Environmental Voters Board of Directors and staff often become officials in California state government, and vice versa. Recent board members include former Cal/EPA Secretary Winston Hickox; former Department of Resources Secretary, Clinton

EPA The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

appointee, and current

California Air Resources Board The California Air Resources Board (CARB or ARB) is the "clean air agency" of the government of California. Established in 1967 when then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air Sanitation and the Motor ...

chair Mary Nichols; and former Assemblymember (and current Santa Cruz County Treasurer) Fred Keeley (D-Santa Cruz). Former Assemblymember

Paul Koretz Paul Koretz (born April 3, 1955) is an American politician, who served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council for the 5th district from 2009 to 2022. He was previously a member of the California State Assembly and the West Hollywood City Cou ...

(D-West Hollywood) is a former staff member of the organization. The organization does work similar to that of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) at the federal level. California Environmental Voters is affiliated with the State Capacity Building Division of the LCV, which works to strengthen state organizations of this type and was formerly known as the Federation of State Conservation Voter Leagues. Established in 1972, the California branch is the largest and oldest such state-level branch.

History

The group renamed itself "California Environmental Voters" and "EnviroVoters" in 2021 to more accurately reflect the group's expanded goal of fighting climate change. In 2022, the group gave California a "D" grade for the first time.{{Cite web , date=2022-03-16 , title=California Environmental Voters give state 'D' grade , url=https://fox40.com/news/california-connection/california-environmental-voters-give-state-d-grade/ , access-date=2022-07-20 , website=FOX40 , language=en-US

References

External links

*Mayer, Jane. "Has James O'Keefe Accidentally Stung Himself Again?" ''The New Yorker'', August 8, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/has-james-okeefe-accidentally-stung-himself-again. Retrieved September 12, 2017. *California League of Conservation Voters
About CLCV
Retrieved Jan. 26, 2006.
California League of Conservation Voters
Environmental organizations based in California 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations

Strategies

Affiliations

History

See also

References

External links