How the green guys won : interest group strategies & the California Clean Cars Legislation

Abstract

In July of 2002, the California State Legislature passed the "California Clean Cars Bill," the first law in the United States to regulate carbon dioxide as a vehicular pollutant. California's vehicular standards have implications across the country; at least eight other states have committed to adopt them. The passage of the legislation was as controversial as it was groundbreaking. Over the course of the year and a half that the bill was in the state legislature, environmentalists and the auto industry fought for the public's support of their positions. Although the auto industry had the benefit of a multi-million dollar advertising budget, environmentalists adopted tactics that proved more effective in the battle for Californians' support. This thesis describes the environmentalists' coalition-building and problem-definition tactics and how they enabled the environmentalists to gain public support.