Urge Governor Brown to support AB 2447 today! Help build Green Zones in California and protect our right to know!

Governor Brown

Communities deserve the right to know when new pollution sources are proposed to be sited in their neighborhoods. Right now, we have the opportunity to ensure communities are protected by law.  AB 2447 is now on Governor Brown’s desk for signature! This law will increase transparency and community decision making by providing homeowners, tenants, schools and local businesses in disadvantaged communities with notice in languages they can understand.

Many thanks to AB 2447’s author, Assemblymember Eloise Gomez-Reyes, as well as bill co-sponsor Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability for their leadership on this important piece of legislation. We’d also like to appreciate CEJA’s member and partner organizations that have advocated for the bill, and all of AB 2447’s supporters!

If signed into law, AB 2447 will require government agencies to notify California’s most environmentally burdened communities of new or expanding polluting facilities in their own languages. That means that planners would have to take residents’ concerns seriously before approving another polluting source.

The right to know about the types of industries that are moving into our neighborhoods is a crucial first step in building healthier communities for all Californians.

Help build Green Zones in California and protect our right to know.

Ask Governor Brown to sign AB 2447!

To: Governor Brown
From: [Your Name]

Homeowners, tenants, and local businesses have the right to know when a polluting industry is expanding or being planned for their community. AB 2447 would give residents living within a 1/2 mile of a proposed project advance notice—in their own language—of polluting facilities that could result in adverse public health effects, negatively impact neighborhood quality, or undermine housing opportunities.

AB 2447 is particularly important in areas where existing plants have already fouled the air, soil and water and have harmed the public’s health. In places like Fresno, Richmond, and the Inland Valley many homeowners and tenants have to keep their windows shut and avoid going outside to protect their health.

AB 2447 is a common sense notice requirement. It enables communities and local governments to work together to develop better projects from the outset. It does not take away any land use authority from local governments to decide where to locate industrial facilities. It only requires public agencies to notify residents of industrial projects proposed in disadvantaged communities.

For California’s low-income communities with higher proportions of low-income households and residents of color, greater transparency and community outreach could lead to stronger relationships between residents, local governments, and developers, as well as better public health, neighborhood, and economic outcomes. It is essential for residents to have meaningful opportunities to provide input on land use proposals that may result in adverse environmental and public health effects, negative neighborhood quality, or fewer housing opportunities.

Please sign AB 2447 into law!