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Actor and activist Jane Fonda was at the state capitol Tuesday pushing for two bills that would make polluters pay.

Next week, assemblymember Dawn Addis will present her bill, AB 1391, to the state assembly for consideration.

"It is a bill that creates equity for every single one of California's 4-year-olds by providing early learning," said Addis.

Vistra, which is proposing the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facility project in Morro Bay, is also the same company that owns a BESS facility in Moss Landing that recently caught fire.

“We can never have a fire like that again,” said Assemblymember Dawn Addis, (D) Morro Bay.

“We’ve had disaster after disaster after disaster,” said Assemblymember Dawn Addis, a Democrat. “It’s the taxpayers and the insurance ratepayers that are bearing the cost. It’s not sustainable, it’s not right and it’s not ethical.”

Addis and Democratic lawmakers in nearly a dozen other states want to force the world’s largest fossil fuel companies to help pay for the recovery costs of climate-related disasters. Last year, Vermont became the first state to pass a “climate Superfund” law, followed soon after by New York.

MONTEREY – District 30 Assemblywoman Dawn Addis, D-Morro Bay, has introduced legislation which aims to strengthen the Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund by expanding its scope and impact, Addis' office recently announced.

California Assembly Bill 1487 renames the fund to the Two-Spirit, Transgender, Gender Nonconforming and Intersex (2TGI) Wellness and Equity Fund.

Not many people love the Bay Area as much as Julie Cravotto, Chief of Staff to Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-San Luis Obispo). Indeed, Cravotto loves her hometown so much that she entered politics to address the myriad issues that threaten its prosperity. "I never expected that I was going to do this as a job," says Cravotto. "But I don't think there's anything I love more than my hometown, and seeing issues like the housing crisis really pushed me to want to do something more."

The recent fire at Vistra Energy’s battery energy storage facility in Moss Landing is a wake-up call. It is more than just an isolated incident and a stark reminder of the risks tied to lithium-ion battery energy storage. It highlights the urgent need to rethink not just how we build lithium-ion battery energy storage, but where we build it – and whether local communities have a say in the process.

Opponents to commonsense guardrails are saying that any kind of regulation is an irrational overreaction. Their arguments, that thoughtful regulation and siting requirements will be catastrophic to California’s energy goals, are an age-old method of leveraging the fear we all have about our changing climate. 

The recent fire at Vistra Energy's battery energy storage facility in Moss Landing is a wake-up call. It is more than just an isolated incident and a stark reminder of the risks tied to lithium-ion battery energy storage. It highlights the urgent need to rethink not just how we build lithium-ion battery energy storage, but where we build it — and whether local communities should have a say in the process.

That's why I introduced Assembly Bill 303, the Battery Energy Safety & Accountability Act, to improve safety standards and restore local oversight for energy storage facilities in California.

"Textile waste is the fastest growing waste of our nation's landfills driven by the rise of disposable 'Trash Fashion,'" said Assemblymember Dawn Addis, the prime sponsor of the bill. "We're facing a climate crisis, and the Fashion Act is common sense legislation to hold the industry accountable, reduce emissions, and tackle waste."

Several brands, including Patagonia, Reformation and Stella McCartney are supporting the bill.

MOSS LANDING, Calif. (KION-TV) -- A new bill has been introduced to put up stronger safeguards and protections for future battery storage facilities.

The Battery Energy Safety & Accountability Act, or AB 303, was introduced by Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) alongside Monterey County District 2 Supervisor Glenn Church. The bill is aimed at finding reasonable requirements for future locations on where to create battery facilites alongwith solutions on how to prevent similiar fires.