Californians know the climate crisis isn’t a distant threat. Devastating wildfires, brutal heat waves, and soaring energy bills and insurance premiums are hitting families right now. Tackling this crisis at the scale science demands requires leaders who pull every lever available and never back down from a fight. Scott has been that leader since his first day in office. Now Washington is next.
Scott was named a TIME100 Climate Champion in 2023 after he took on the biggest corporations in the world — particularly the oil industry — and passed first-in-the-nation legislation to hold them accountable by forcing them to publicly disclose their carbon emissions. He also authored a bill to ban fracking in California, and while it fell short, the Legislature ultimately succeeded in cutting most drilling near homes, schools, and other sensitive areas, protecting much of the state.
We need to transition to clean energy as quickly as possible, but broken bureaucratic processes — and even outdated environmental laws — are slowing down our progress when we most need to speed up. Scott has passed historic laws to cut through the red tape: requiring cities to implement instant app-based solar permitting, which made California the #1 state in the country for solar permitting, and making the largest investment in battery storage in California history. He is also authoring legislation to streamline permitting for balcony plug-in solar for renters, heat pumps, and utility-scale solar projects, and to allow San Francisco to break up with PG&E and form its own public utility.
Scott has also championed creative use of our streets, including helping pass Car-Free JFK in Golden Gate Park and the ballot measure that created Sunset Dunes Park on the former Great Highway.
