Kamala Harris - For California Attorney General 2010

In 2005, Kamala created an Environmental Justice Unit in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office to hold polluters accountable and protect the health of the city’s residents. The Environmental Justice Unit has prosecuted cases ranging from illegal dumping of hazardous waste to fraudulent smog test operations. Among the cases handled by the Environmental Justice Unit are the following:

• $2 Million Settlement in U-Haul Hazardous Waste Handling Case. 
• San Francisco District Attorney Assists California Department of Fish & Game in Investigation of Cosco Busan Oil Spill Disaster. 
• Man Sentenced on Charges of Issuing False Smog Certificates. 
• Owner of Fraudulent Smog Check Shop Sentenced. 
• Alameda Publishing Corporation Pleads Guilty to Unlawfully Disposing of Hazardous Waste. 

In 2009, Harris sponsored legislation authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman (AB 708), signed into law by the Governor in 2009 and taking effect in 2010, which imposes substantial new penalties for poaching in California.

As an elected board member of the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA), Harris actively supported CDAA’s Environmental Circuit Prosecutor Project, which not only serves as the primary source of environmental education for state and local prosecutors but also as a valuable resource for ideas, information, and assistance to counties and environmental regulators.

As Attorney General, Kamala Harris will use the powers of the office to protect our environment, and thereby the people of our state, through:

• Vigorous enforcement of AB 32 and related, pioneering state efforts to both mitigate and adapt to the myriad environmental threats posed by climate change.
• Enforcement of those California environmental laws over which the Attorney General has a special, stewardship responsibility -- e.g., CEQA and Proposition 65.
• More vigorous use of California’s criminal laws in the cause of environmental enforcement.
• Providing fair and equitable environmental protection for all California citizens; addressing the multiple environmental threats faced by residents in socioeconomically poor communities.
• Build upon the Circuit Prosecutor model with environmental attorneys from the A.G.’s office traveling around the state to lend expertise to local prosecutors handling environmental cases, assisting in trials and training D.A.s in the process.
• Constructive collaboration with environmental partners—local prosecutors, private citizens, environmental NGOs, other state Attorneys General and federal environmental officials—on a host of environmental initiatives of common interest.