News

Out California assemblyman has bills signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger

Thu, Oct 11th 2007, 09:27
Schwarzenegger signs several bills by Laird
They affect new toilets, hiking, oil spills, foreign species
By JAKE HENSHAW
The Salinas Californian Capitol Bureau

SACRAMENTO - Campaigns to save water and complete a coastal trail from Mexico to Oregon took steps forward Wednesday as the governor signed bills by Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz.

Assembly Bill 715 phases in a requirement that new toilets use 1.28 gallons of water per flush, down from the current standard of 1.6 gallons per flush.

The bill, which also sets standards for urinals, would require 50 percent of toilets sold in the state to meet the new requirement by 2010, rising to 100 percent by 2014.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar Laird bill last year, but this year disclosed that he was signing it as part of his pitch to lawmakers to approve a new water bond in the current special session.

AB 1396 would require state and local transportation officials to take a more active role in the push to establish a trail along the entire coast of California. A 1976 law required that the route for such a trail be identified, but the trail is only about 40 percent complete, according to Laird's office.

This new bill would direct the state Department of Transportation to report quarterly to state resource agencies on its surplus property in the coastal zone.

Regional transportation agencies along the coast will have to include the trail in their planning documents.

The governor also signed bills by Laird intended to protect the coast by increasing funding options to deal with oil spills (AB 1220) and to prevent the introduction of foreign mussels, clams and other species into California water by expanding rules governing the operation of ships (AB 740).

"These bills will allow California to continue on the path as a world leader in the preservation and protection of our ocean resources," Laird said in a prepared statement.