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"The Fund’s canvass program for Environment California has a huge impact on my work lobbying the Legislature in Sacramento. The canvass has helped us build a powerful grassroots membership base, and our ability to mobilize thousands of canvass-acquired members to call or email their legislators makes a huge difference in a tight campaign.” – Dan Jacobson, Legislative Advocate, Environment California
Accomplishments with Environment California:
- Environment California was founded in 2003 and has worked with the Fund on a canvass program to build its membership base since its inception. Today, Environment California has 85,000 active members, nearly all of whom were first identified through the canvass.
- Canvassers educate the public and mobilize support for Environment California’s campaigns. Thanks in part to the field presence the canvass provides, Environment California has led the way on two huge recent victories that bring more solar power to California and reduce global warming pollution.
In 2003, the newly formed Environment California launched its first grassroots campaign, enlisting Fund canvassers to knock on 200,000 doors and collect 10,000 signatures in support of solar power, in an effort to achieve its goal of getting 50% of all homes built in the state equipped with solar roof panels. As Environment California lobbied the state legislature to adopt bills establishing aggressive solar policies in 2003, 2004, and 2005, Fund canvassers continued to build a groundswell of public support, building the new group’s membership, raising the money needed to support aggressive advocacy and publicity, and mobilizing Californians to become activists by providing innovative opportunities to take grassroots actions in support of solar energy.
In 2005, Environment California introduced the ambitious Solar Homes Bill, which would provide consumer incentives for installing solar panels, require solar panels to be a standard building option in new homes, lift the cap on net metering, and mandate that municipal utilities adopt a solar program at least on par with those of the private sector. Although the bill was not passed in 2005, Environment California, funded largely through citizen contributions generated initially by Fund canvassers, continued to build citizen support for its solar homes campaign through its canvass offices, telephone outreach project, an aggressive media campaign, and a field strategy that involved diverse coalition partners. As a result of Environment California’s dogged grassroots outreach efforts, the California Public Utilities Commission approved the California Solar Initiative (CSI) in January, 2006, committing a combined $3.2 billion in incentive funds to drive consumers toward solar power over the next 11 years. And, finally, in August 2006, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed the Solar Homes Bill into law, joined at the signing by an Environment California advocate and more than a dozen Fund canvassers.
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