AfD supports California's AB 301

AfD recently endorsed AB 301, authored by Assembly member Felipe Fuentes, 39th District in Northeast San Fernando Valley, and sponsored by Food and Water Watch. This bill requires bottled water corporations to report the source and amount of water they extract from local communities in the state and whether that source is publicly or privately owned. It is supported by some 20 conservation and labor organizations and was voted out of the State Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials on March 23. It now goes to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Last year Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill that made it to his desk after being passed by both the Assembly and Senate.

Water bottlers have argued that information on where they pump and how much they take is “proprietary.” If passed, this bill will ensure that large bottlers like Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, Crystal Geyser and Nestlé operate with badly-needed public scrutiny. The next step is for communities to organize to assert their right and the rights of nature to protect local water sources. You can read a hearing report on the bill here.