j N Advocates c > Executive Fellow Shankar Prasad, M.B.B.S. Dr. Prasad came to the Coalition for <strong>Clean</strong> Air (CCA) in 2008, bringing with him invaluable experience as the deputy secretary for science and environmental justice at the California Environmental Protection Agency and as a health effects officer at the South Coast Air Quality Management District. In his time with our organization, he has helped build a climate change program that aims to secure equal protection for all Californians. As part of the implementation plan for AB 32—California’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006—Dr. Prasad co-authored a white paper and helped persuade the California Air Resources Board to identify California’s most polluted communities. This critical inclusion ensures the protection of communities that bear the greatest burden of air pollution. Taking it one step further, CCA has since co-sponsored legislation—AB 1405—which will strengthen these overburdened communities by allocating financial resources to those who are least able to cope with the effects of the climate crisis. Dr. Prasad’s advocacy efforts are helping to advance sound policies in California that will set the bar for climate change legislation worldwide. <strong>The</strong> AB 1405 coalition CCA’s efforts on AB 1405 are shared by the prominent co-authors and sponsors of the bill, as well as a continuously growing coalition of environmental, social justice, public health and faith-based groups. Primary co-authors Assemblymembers Kevin de León, Mike Eng and V. Manuel Perez Additional co-authors Assemblymember Carter Senators Pavley, Price and Romero Latino Caucus (priority bill): Assemblymembers Arambula, Caballero, Coto, Fuentes, Hernandez, Mendoza, Salas, Saldaña and Solorio Co-sponsors Coalition for <strong>Clean</strong> Air California State NAACP Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment Environmental Working Group Greenlining Institute CCA coordinated a press event for AB 1405 Community Benefits Fund with Assemblymember Kevin de León and community advocates. “ When the air quality is poor, it is difficult for my 11-year-old son Israel to breathe. He suffers from asthma and has to use his inhaler. <strong>The</strong>re are many children at my son’s school who, like Israel, have trouble breathing when it is hot and a layer of filthy, brown smog envelops our entire neighborhood. Climate change is a global crisis that we feel on a community level. I want to help create a community that is a safe haven— one where polluters pay for the smoke they emit into the air, making my family, my community, suffer from illnesses. We need to make our neighborhoods healthier and cleaner by supporting the representatives who are trying to strengthen our communities and protect them from the climate crisis. California must take steps to invest in the neighborhoods that have suffered the most from air pollution and will continue to struggle with the consequences of the climate crisis. ” — Anna Mota, president of Los Angeles-based group Volunteer Parents Work <strong>To</strong>gether Coalition for <strong>Clean</strong> Air 20 2009 Annual Report
c > current campaigns Vehicles & transportation <strong>Clean</strong>ing up California’s commutes Coalition for <strong>Clean</strong> Air 21 2009 Annual Report
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