>> you are watching getting answers. we ask experts your questions every day at 3:00. california has some of the strongest environmental protection laws, so how does the state get a nearly failing grade from a new environmental group? we talked to the ceo of california environmental voters. with graffiti a big problem in san francisco, business owners could have a new weapon against tagging. a reporter with the san francisco standard will join us. applicants for uc berkeley are relieved after governor newsom

signed sb 118 into law yesterday after it was passed by the legislature with unusual lightning speed. the bill safeguarding enrollment was co-authored by a san francisco state assembly men. we talked to him earlier today about the impact of this law as well as how to accommodate more students and building housing for them. thank you for joining us. >> great to be here. >> you probably don't often see your name in college application discussion forums. but that is what is happening now because sb 118 prevents uc berkeley from having to slash on-campus enrollment by 2600 students this fall. applicants waiting for decisions are relieved. explain to our viewers how this loss saved cal from having to cut the number of acceptance letters. >> we were approached by the

university letting us know this would be a drastic situation. they lost their appeal to stay the case and were told they would have to cut their admissions by about a third, which would be catastrophic for families who have been working so hard and waiting for this decision. you and i both know how much going to college changes your lives, your trajectory. i know uc berkeley can change your life as an alumnus. it was important to me to do everything possible to rectify the situation. kristen: i don't want to go too much into the details, but there was this law, the california environmental quality act, which was used in the lawsuit by the environmental quality group to get the judge to order the freeze, the caps on enrollment. explain how ceqa applies to universities and how this new law will make it so one

component does not apply to universities. >> every university has to do a long-range development plan, which projects population growth and its impact on the environment. uc berkeley in 2005 projected a flat growth in student enrollment, which means they didn't predict any increase. that was the first mistake. in the law we amended the focus on student enrollment and talked about campus population. it is not just students, it is all the employees at the university. we talked about the growth of the campus population and its impact on the environment. the second major piece of the legislation was around directing the court. what the judge did in the fall was an anomaly. we never thought he would cap student enrollment, but he did. we said if a court finds the university did not adequately complete their development plan,

they would have 18 months to correct it and then the judge could apply a solution. giving the university time to take corrective action. kristen: why do california public universities need this so desperately right now? >> berkeley was in a unique situation where they had application letters they were not sure could go out. they needed reassurance from the legislature to ensure they could legally send those letters out. in the future it gives campus as more flexibility to focus on the campus population, not only student enrollment. student enrollment is increasing all around the state at the legislature and government's direction. we have a $230 million shortfall and the only way we close that gap is if all community colleges increase their enrollment.

kristen: why has demand increased so much so quickly? >> our population has grown so there is more demand. if you look at our state, our best universities except a few are public universities. unlike the east coast where the best universities are thought of as private, we have this amazing public system that is affordable and traditionally accessible. we want to keep it that way. that's one of the reasons we have the fifth-largest economy, our incredible higher education system. kristen: the plaintiff, this neighborhood group, save berkeley's neighborhoods, says, we are not saying campus can't grow. we are saying we already have so many on housed students that housing has not kept up. what i am asking is, the legislature wants you see to accept more students and i understand why. but what of companies that to

ensure the housing needs will be met? >> one thing that's interesting is the same neighborhood group is suing uc berkeley in its efforts to build more housing. two, we agree we should build more housing. that's why we appropriated $2 billion so that community colleges could get access to that fund over the next two years to build more student housing. using the same line of logic the neighbors had, we would have to close down every city in california almost at catastrophic levels. if we used that same philosophy, we wouldn't be having anybody move into any cities because of the homelessness issue and that is not what we are doing. kristen: is the housing factor the main one constraining growth or are there other things? for example, lecture halls or the fact it is in a buildout

city, budget, faculty? >> i think you just listed all of them. there are financial constraints, also staffing constraints. you don't grow faculty on a tree. lastly, buildings are not built overnight. want to go the most in terms of the uc system so we have to do everything possible for both universities to expand enrollment. kristen: there is an argument when a university gets too big, the experience may be lessened for everybody. why not grow other campuses that are not in really buildout

cities, like ucla and uc berkeley? or build new cities, like uc reading? >> every city is growing. it's a question i posed to the university of california itself. should be thinking about 11, 12, 13 campuses? the chancellor all think they can grow and it is the fastest, most efficient way to increase enrollment. that is a question we posed to the university itself. the newest campus we are definitely growing, but also riverside, santa cruz, irvine, davis, all are being asked to increase enrollment. kristen: do you think neighbors in existing cities where there are colleges, the town and gown conflict, do neighbors have the right to have a say in what they want their city to look like? >> absolutely, but we are saying to all these neighborhoods across the state that we have not built enough housing.

that's why you see me and other legislators pushing for housing production bills. cities have not done their job producing enough housing for our state. that's why we have a huge homelessness population and why housing prices have grown through the roof. it is a failure for cities all across the state. we are taking greater action to streamline that process to increase money for affordable housing but also push universities to build more student housing. almost everybody who moved into those neighborhoods realized they were moving in next door to a major university. the university was there first and they made the decision knowing that. kristen: i want to ask quickly about lowell high school. the san francisco school board now has three new members. there may be new priorities, taking a look again at the admission process. the old board wanted a lottery

based process and people are wondering if merit will come back. i am wondering if you have a thought on that. >> i advocated to keep the lowell merit-based admissions policy two years ago and i stand by that. i believe the way the school board handled their decision was not right. they did not do it with any public deliberation, very little public process. they did it in the middle of the pandemic, pulling the rug out from many students who have been working towards lowell for many years. i understand the goals of more diversity. there is a way to do it without throwing out the merit-based admissions policy. they should look at reinstating it. a court has spoken that the way they did the change was incorrect, but i think it should be kept. i think we should keep it and figure out a way to increase diversity at lowell so more students can get access and i

think there is a number of ways to do that. kristen: one idea assembly man ting mentioned is taking the top percentage from every middle school in san francisco, so that is one option on the table. the group that sued calc, save berkeley's neighborhoods, responded to the passage, saying it would give the university a unique free pass to avoid analyzing the impact of its enrollment decisions and would make the housing crisis worse. he also said the law would result in further litigation. a watchdog group is grading the state on it in new york city, ♪ ♪ there's always something new to discover. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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kristen: california is often thought of as a leader on

fighting climate change, but a watchdog group called california environmental voters said the state is not doing nearly enough. it issued a report card giving california leaders a d for climate action, or inaction. joining us is the ceo of california environmental voters, mary chrisman. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. kristen: i am going to pull up that report card, issued today about state leaders. walk us through it. the overall grade is a d. why so bad? >> the truth is california has a long history of bleeding on the environment and being a role model nationally and for other states and countries. in the last three years california hasn't advanced significant, widespread climate progress in the form of legislation and bills. we haven't seen big

environmental bills since 2018 when senate bill 100 passed with a commitment to clean energy by 2045. in the last three years, we have seen wildfires, drought, extreme heat, pollution get worse and worse. what we have experienced in terms of climate impacts has gotten worse and leaders have not led in the way we need them to. we are realizing why as we follow the money. we need more action from leaders on things like decarbonization, transitioning to clean transportation, resilience in communities and across landscapes, and doubling down on unclean energy. kristen: so the d refers to the things you would like to see california take on that we have not done yet. elaborate more on the money part. you said follow the money. was that part of the great?

what's that about? >> what we have started doing is track the number of legislators that take oil money. as we know about the climate crisis, the reason we are in this situation is burning fossil fuels like oil, gas, coal. we have mapped all the legislators that take oil money. 63% take big oil funding for their campaigns and fair elections. we also know voters across the state, across party lines are more likely to support a candidate who does not take fossil fuel funding. we have the vast majority of legislators, including 50% in the state legislature, who take oil money. when we see climate change legislation is dying, we look at why and who is funding these elections. kristen: i see. democrats in the senate and

assembly got better grades, a b average versus republican counterparts, who received f's. is that not just taking money, but based on votes or bills introduced? >> exactly. it is so hard to follow what happens in sacramento. we do all the boats -- the boats. we track every bill, every vote, and tally that up so californians can see how their legislator is performing. we score committee boats, policy committees, floor boats, and we score the number of aggressive climate bills that get introduced as well. kristen: i am such a nerd, the methodology always matters to me. governor newsom gets a b, not grape but not terrible. tell us what you think he has done >> there were a number of executive actions last year that the government took, things like

mandating his administration getting off fossil fuels. things like a significant investment through the california state budget last fall in climate resiliency. they applied a health setback rule to protect communities from living, going to school, and playing by extraction sites, where pollution is the worst. those were critical actions the governor led on last year. because the legislature did not pass anything significant, not a lot of big climate bills made it to the governor's desk. the governor signed most of the bills that did make it to his desk but vetoed one. we think some leadership from the governor, but the governor's score includes a calculation of california's overall score. solving the climate crisis isn't a single player game, it's a team sport, and b governor has an outsize role to play to

ensure california is doing the work we need to do and is partnering with the legislature to lead the way we need to lead. kristen: i think california as a whole is committed to transitioning to clean energy. the question is really how and when. i wonder if that is something we can speed up right now, especially when we are having an oil crisis and we have voices calling for more oil drilling and permits being issued. >> that is a good point. we will remain vulnerable to international crises, like right now, if we don't transition to clean energy. working families right now need support, full stop, for the increase in gas prices, but we have to look down the road. what can we do to make sure we are not vulnerable like this? kristen: thank you so much. the signal is deteriorating, so

i got to end our conversation, but i appreciate you coming on to share the california environmental voters report card for california on climate action. coming up next, our partner, the sf standard, it will

kristen: abc 7 is excited about our partnership with digital news site the san francisco standard. part of building a better bay area at abc 7 is highlighting those working for the same mission of improving quality of life. the standards's insightful reporting on the quality of life in san francisco does just that. the standard is sharing the story of private business owners dealing with vandalism and graffiti and what city leaders want to do to clean up this problem. joining us is reporter kevin truong. good to see you again. you spoke with a lot of people

to put together this story -- business leaders, san francisco supervisors, the department of public works. what is the general feeling about graffiti? is it like car break-ins or retail theft, seen as being out of control right now? >> i think anybody who has walked around the city, a business owner, a city official, even a resident, can see there has been an increase in graffiti and vandalism. the numbers have borne that out. over the last year, there have been roughly 11,000 instances of graffiti on private businesses according to the department of public works. that has roughly doubled the amount seen in pre-pandemic times, leading some folks to consider a new approach to dealing with the issue. kristen: before we dive into the new approach, i want to ask if mayor breed has weighed in. she seems focused on cleaning up

the city to get office workers and tourists to come back. she is kicking off a european tour to sell the city as a tourist haven, which is hard to do if the city is not visually appealing. has she commented? >> not directly, but the mayor's office is working in partnership with the supervisor on this impending program. kristen: the program you are speaking about is the graffiti abatement pilot program that supervisor myrna melgar is behind. tell us about what that includes. >> this would create a pilot program allowing businesses to opt in to a service that would expand dpw, or the department of works, ability to clean up not only graffiti on public spaces, which they already do, but private businesses as well. this would be targeted on major commercial corridors. san francisco, if it wants to get its economy roaring again,

needs to show better and that involves cleaning up issues of vandalism. kristen: two questions -- one, does dpw have the man and woman power to do this, small business graffiti cleanup? two, would they charge the business owners? >> i will answer the second question first. this would be a free opt in program for businesses on these major commercial corridors. the legislation would earmark additional funds for dpw, which already spends millions of dollars a year working on graffiti abatement, to expand services to private businesses. with regards to the man or woman power, supervisor medgar is working with a local laborers union to staff up the program with folks looking for entry-level jobs. kristen: another piece of this is the fine that may be coming

back. during the pandemic they paused that fine. basically property owners who don't clean up the graffiti on their property would have to pay. is that still seen as part of the solution, or have the businesses suffered so much, maybe they shouldn't have to pay? >> part of the momentum for the program is the fact that these fines are in the process of being restarted by the board of supervisors. that is still to be voted on by the full board, but those fines will be reinstituted. the idea is these programs can work together so the fines can act as a stick for bad actors or property owners who fail to clean up their businesses. the pilot program could be a carrot. basically helping these businesses, giving them a path to clean up. kristen: although the ultimate bad actor is the vandals

themselves, the ones putting the graffiti on the buildings. will they be held more accountable? >> dpw told me while they are looking for increased funds to expand the program, part of what they want is continuing enforcement actions on folks who are vandalizing properties. instances of graffiti, vandalism, research shows it ends up leading to more business vacancies and issues like that. kristen: i have to put you on hold briefly. we can finish up on facebook live, but we have links to the san francisco standard's reporting on our website, abc 7.com. to watch more segments featuring

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kristen: thanks for joining us on getting answers. tonight, several developing headlines as we come on the air. the capital of ukraine now under a 35-hour curfew. what they're now bracing for in kyiv. and tonight, verifying surveillance video showing a powerful blast rocking the second-largest city of kharkiv. the russian military unleashing a barrage of attacks on civilians. deadly air strikes hitting residential areas in kyiv. apartment buildings destroyed. consumed by smoke and flames. more than 3 million refugees now fleeing the country. and the mass exodus under way in mariup mariupol. an e tonight, 24 hours after learning a fox news correspondent was injured in an attack, the