Dean Florez for California Lt. Governor 2010: Air Quality

“You can’t stand for your convictions if you always stand with the crowd.”
-Dean Florez

Breathe Easy

Cleaning our air will take a concerted effort to take the most polluting cars and trucks off our roads. Dean has joined the national effort to put one million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015 with a strong push in California.

Ending Asthma

In the short-term, we need to be committed to creating an efficient goods movement strategy – especially the use of clean-burning rail technology. Dean believes economic stimulus dollars should be prioritized toward the creation of regional goods movement transportation hubs that include clean light manufacturing and idle technology that saves the air we breathe.

Clean Fuel

All state government fleets and infrastructure must be focused on using renewable energy technology. Dean will ensure taxpayers are not subsidizing polluters when there are alternatives available.

People Movers

California’s High Speed Rail system is a long-term commitment to cleaning our air -- more people on the train means less pollution in the air. As an early member of the State's high speed rail commission, Dean will continue to provide leadership to ensure that all Californians receive the benefit of mass transit and the air quality benefits associated with its expansion.

As the representative of a smog-shrouded region, where childhood asthma rates are three times the national average and one in six children carries an inhaler, Dean took action to leave a better environment for his children and future generations. He successfully passed a series of bills (SB 700, 704, 705, 708, 709; 2003) to improve air quality, including putting an end to agriculture’s reign as the only industry exempted from the Federal Clean Air Act. The measures also phase out the open-field burning of agricultural waste and allow for greater oversight of mobile sources of pollution, including gross-polluting vehicles.

Dean scored a 100 percent voting record with the American Lung Association during his time in the Senate. His historic clean air legislation turned around asthma rates in the Central Valley and earned Dean numerous statewide awards, including the Clean Air Coalition Legislator of the Year.