Fran Pavley honored for environmental leadership

The California League of Conservation Voters recently honored State Assemblymember Fran Pavley with an Environmental Leadership award.

The other honorees of the evening were former Vice President Al Gore for “An Inconvenient Truth,” his film on the dangers from global warming; the film’s director, Davis Guggenheim; and film producers Laurie David, Lawrence Bender and Scott Z. Burns.

“It was not just a great honor to be recognized by CLCV, one of the most highly respected environmental organizations in the state,” said Pavley, “but the timing seemed so fitting. Global warming and climate change have been the signature issues of my time in the Assembly, and it was wonderful to go out on such a high note.”

Pavley’s two landmark pieces of legislation became law with the support of two different governors. In 2002, Gov. Gray Davis signed AB 1493, a bill to reduce

tailpipe emissions from automobiles by 30 percent by 2016. Ten other states have now adopted “The Pavley Regulations.”

In 2006, AB 32, “The Global Warming Solutions Act,” jointly authored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez and Pavley, was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

David Allgood, executive director of CLCV, said that Pavley was selected as “the author of not one, but two groundbreaking bills to reduce global warming. . . . (Her) courage to stand up to some of the country’s largest industries and demand cleaner technologies has created not only a better California but resonates across the state and, indeed, around the world.”

Pavley will be leaving office due to term limits. She has been selected as a Distinguished Fellow at UCLA for the 2006-07 school year and will be working for a national environmental organization as an advisor on global warming.