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On March 28, Environment California released the annual Legislative Scorecard, one of the many citizenship tools we use to preserve California’s air, water and open spaces.

The 2006 Scorecard looks at the most important environmental votes taken between Jan. 1, 2006 and Aug. 31, 2006 in the state Legislature. These votes determined the direction of state policy on critical environmental issues ranging from stopping global warming to ending offshore drilling to clearing the air.

In spite of powerful special interests, in 2006 the Legislature made significant progress in protecting our wild forests, setting us on the road to 1 million solar roofs and, most significantly, cutting global warming pollution. “These scorecards are an important tool to educate the public about the voting records of their elected officials and to help citizens hold those officials accountable,” said Environment California Legislative Director Dan Jacobson.

Ten senators and 31 assemblymembers voted for the environment 100 percent of the time during the 2006 session.

“We applaud the 41 environmental champions because they put the quality of California’s environment ahead of powerful interests,” said Jacobson.

“In particular, we want to thank Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez and Senate President Don Perata. Not only were they instrumental in passing the nation’s first cap on global warming pollution, their leadership also helped pass other significant legislation to increase renewable power, reduce our exposure to toxic chemicals and clean our air.”

Find out how your legislators voted, and view the complete scorecard.

We examined the legislative voting records on 19 key environmental votes, including:

AB 32, which created the first ever statewide cap on global warming emissions.

SB 1, which will bring 3,000 megawatts of solar power to California.

AB 289 gives the state the ability to get the tools it needs to detect potentially harmful chemicals that currently go unnoticed in our bodies and the environment.

AJR 55 calls for the California congressional delegation to protect our coast and continue the moratorium on new offshore oil and gas drilling.

AB 2485 will reduce the contaminants going into our oceans and establish protections for the California sea otter.

SB 187 would have required state officials to consider the cost of drinking water pollution to health when setting state drinking water standards.

In addition to tracking critical environmental legislation, the scorecards also list biographical data, past Environment California scores and telephone numbers for citizens to contact their elected officials.

“We urge the state Legislature to continue what it started in 2006 and continue to strengthen our environmental laws, invest in renewable energy technology, ban the worst toxic chemicals, and clean up ocean pollution,” concluded Jacobson.