If you’ve been following our work lately you’ll be aware that we have a bill in the California State Senate. We crafted SB 1230 alongside State Senator Monique Limón and the Dolores Huerta Foundation to cut greenhouse emissions, reduce toxic air pollution, and increase equity by streamlining and expanding the state’s existing clean car rebate programs. These changes will accelerate clean car adoption by low-income and disadvantaged Californians—and I’m thrilled to announce we just passed our first major hurdle in making it law!

On the off chance you aren’t an expert on how the political sausage is made here in the Golden State, a simplified roadmap for turning a bill into law looks something like this:

1. Work with a legislator to introduce the bill in either the Senate or Assembly (SB 1230 is in the Senate, but the process works the same in the Assembly);

2. Successfully navigate the gauntlet of committees that govern the topics covered in your bill;

3. Pass a “floor” vote in your house of origin, (which means every member votes on your bill);

4. Make it through the gauntlet of committees in the other house (the Assembly, in our case);

5. Pass another floor vote in that house;

6. Get the governor to sign it into law.

We’re still navigating step two, but just this afternoon we passed our first vote in the Environmental Quality committee! We had strong support from the committee members present, and I have to tell you that my heart skipped a beat when Senator Lena Gonzales called it a “fantastic” bill.

From here, we move to the SenateTransportation Committee for a vote on the 26th, and we’ll have to pass at least one more committee before the bill heads to the Senate floor. Then, SB 1230 would move over to the Assembly — where we get to do the whole thing again!

I want to thank everyone who spoke up in support of SB 1230 today, including representatives from labor organizations, Indivisible California—and its 87 chapters across the state—the Climate Center, Elders Climate Action, and the SLO Climate Coalition, as well as Camilla Chavez from the Dolores Huerta Foundation and our LGCA Director Ben Eichert. Because of our work together, California is one step closer making clean cars accessible to the people who need help the most.

If you’d like to add your voice to the call for clean transportation equity, take a few moments to sign our petition! There you can also sign up to get involved in other ways, including sharing on social media or even calling a support comment during our next vote.

Remember: transportation represents 40% of our state’s GHG emissions. Together, we can put California on the road to a sustainable transportation future!