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Inventory of the California State Senate Environmental Quality Committee Records
LP362
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Title: California State Senate Environmental Quality Committee Records
Dates: 1997-2002
Collection number: LP362
Creator:
Senate Environmental Quality Committee
Collection Size:
16 cubic feet
Repository:
California State Archives
Sacramento, California
Abstract: Introduced in 1997, Senate Resolution 7 (Lockyer) created the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. This committee replaced
the Senate Toxics and Public Safety Management Committee as the entity responsible for hearing bills related to California's
environmental quality. Providing oversight and analysis on legislation related to hazardous waste, solid waste, air pollution,
and water pollution remains the focus of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. The records of the committee consist
of one series regarding the committee's activities: Bill files (1997-2002).
Physical location: California State Archives
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research.
For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the California State Archives. Permission for reproduction or publication
is given on behalf of the California State Archives as the owner of the physical items. The researcher assumes all responsibility
for possible infringement which may arise from reproduction or publication of materials from the California State Archives
collections.
[Identification of item], Senate Environmental Quality Committee Records, LP[number]:[folder number], California State Archives,
Office of the Secretary of State, Sacramento, California.
The California State Archives acquired the Senate Environmental Quality Committee records according to state law.
The Senate Environmental Quality Committee was created in 1997, replacing and assuming the responsibilities of the Senate
Toxics and Public Safety Management Committee. During the 1997-1998 legislative session Senate Resolution 7 (Lockyer) made
changes to certain Senate standing committees relating to their member composition and subject jurisdiction. Additionally,
this resolution created a new standing committee: the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. The primary focus of this committee
is to provide oversight of legislative bills related to environmental quality, air quality, toxics, and hazardous waste. At
inception the Environmental Quality Committee also had policy jurisdiction over bills relating to integrated waste management
that was previously overseen by the Senate Committee on Governmental Organization. In the 1999-2000 legislative session, the
Environmental Quality Committee was charged with policy jurisdiction over legislation relating to water quality.
In the 1997-1998 legislative session this standing committee consisted of nine members; however, it was increased to ten members
in the 1999-2000 legislative session and then was reduced to nine members in the 2001-2002 session. This committee has since
been reduced to seven members and remains active in reviewing legislation related to the areas of legislative oversight mentioned
above. The state senators to have held the position of Environmental Quality Committee Chair are as follows: Byron D. Sher,
(Dem.) 1997-2004, Alan Lowenthal, (Dem.) 2005, and Joe Simitian, (Dem.) 2006.
The Senate Environmental Quality Committee Records consists of 16 cubic feet of records reflecting the legislative activities
of the California State Senate that were deemed to fall under the jurisdictions of this standing committee for review and/or
revision. These records consist of bill files covering the years 1997-2002. It is anticipated that the Archives will receive
further records from the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. Researchers should check for recently received, unprocessed
records of this committee.
This committee oversees various types of pollution and associated legislative regulations. More specifically, the Environmental
Quality Committee assesses specific applications of environmental mandates, proposed legislation that may effect previous
legislation such as the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), or the nuances of Environmental Impact Report (EIR) requirements
or exemptions. Much of the proposed legislation brought before this committee deals with issues involving hazardous waste,
solid waste, air pollution, or water pollution.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
California State Senate Environmental Quality Committee
Air Pollution California
Water Pollution California
Butyl methyl ether Environmental aspects California
Related Collections at the California State Archives
Lowenthal, Alan (Restricted)
Related Collections at other Repositories
Records for Byron D. Sher, first chair of this committee, may be found at the Cecil H. Green Library, Special Collections
and University Archives; Stanford University; Stanford, CA 94305
Note to researchers
Researchers interested in this committee are advised to check the papers of its Chairs. Committee Chairs often kept materials
relating to committee operations among their personal files. For Chair papers available at the California State Archives or
other repositories, this information can be found in the committee history.