Children's Breathing Rights Act Gains Momentum in State Senate Committee Vote

April 26, 2006 (LOS ANGELES On Monday, April 24, the California State Senate Environmental Quality Committee voted 5-1 in support of the Children's Breathing Rights Act of 2006 (SB 1205). BREATHE California of Los Angeles County, the leading advocate for the legislation, along with representatives from the Girl Scout Councils of California and the California District Attorneys Association testified in support of SB 1205 at the hearing.

SB 1205 will allow local air quality districts to seek stiff new penalties from serious air polluters. A portion of fines and settlements would be directed to a new "Children's Breathing Rights Fund" and be available for enhanced enforcement activities and children's health initiatives in the district where the penalty was assessed, including asthma services in schools and communities.

“We are grateful to the Senators on the Environmental Quality Committee for supporting this important legislation, which continues to move forward just in time for World Asthma Day on May 2,” said Enrique Chiock, president and CEO of BREATHE California of Los Angeles County.

This important legislation comes on the heels of the U.S. EPA’s estimate that one in every 10,700 Los Angeles residents are at risk of contracting cancer from breathing L.A.’s dirty air and a University of Southern California study that says the number of deaths from breathing sooty smog in California may be more than twice as high as previously estimated.

The Institute for Economics and Environmental Studies at California State University, Fullerton recently issued a study that said smog in the San Joaquin Valley is responsible for $3.2 billion in health costs annually and that those costs can be saved by compliance with federal and state ozone and particulate standards.

In the last ten years alone, cases of asthma in California have increased by 60 percent and asthma has become the #1 cause of school absenteeism in Los Angeles.

Additional organizations, including Children's Health Environmental Coalition, Children Now, Children's Defense Fund, Children's Partnership, Clean Power Campaign, Environment California, Environmental Working Group, and the Foundation for Early Childhood Education, Literacy for Environmental Justice, Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma, PICO California, Planning and Conservation League, and Pueblo Y Salud have signed on in support of SB 1205. The growing list now includes:

American Lung Association of California, Attorney General’s Office, BREATHE California of Los Angeles County, California District Attorneys Association, California Environmental Health & Justice Team of the Women’s Policy Institute, California Environmental Rights Alliance, California Medical Association, California Safe Schools, California Thoracic Society, Children's Health Environmental Coalition, Clean Power Campaign, Environment California, Environmental Working Group, The Foundation for Early Childhood Education, Girl Scout Councils of California, Literacy for Environmental Justice, Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma, Mexican American Opportunities Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, PHFE Management Solutions, Physicians for Social Responsibility – Los Angeles, Planning and Conservation League, Pueblo Y Salud, St. Mark AME Church, and Sierra Club-California.