A Bay Area state Assembly member wants to help take the dark side out of artificial light at night.
Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-Milpitas, introduced AB 2382, which passed out of the Business and Professions Committee earlier in the week.
The bill aims specifically to provide for the safety of migratory birds, insects and people, according to Lee’s office.
The bill requires all lights installed or replaced on state structures after the new year to have shields to redirect light, have an automatic or manual shutoff mechanism or be motion-activated.
Besides an estimate that 30 percent of outdoor lighting in the country is wasted, excess artificial light may be disrupting wildlife behavior, Lee’s office said.
For example, many bird species use the night sky to migrate. Artificial light could lead the birds to human environments where they can die from collisions with structures.
Insects and humans can also be affected negatively by artificial light at night. Mood and anxiety disorders are more likely among teens and adolescents living in areas with lots of artificial light at night.
Artificial light at night can affect insects’ movement, reproduction and foraging.
Lee’s bill now goes to the Appropriations Committee.
This would also help with being able to see the stars at night. I live in an area with no street lights but people have installed lights outside of their homes that do not have motion detectors. I love my neighbors but also love to see the beautiful stars at night.
SMH. Move to the country. Waaaay out into the country. You can see lots of stars out there. And maybe just maybe you would be so busy star gazing you’d forget to go vote.
I couldn’t agree more Just_My_Two_Cents. I have a neighbor that has every tree, shrub, plant, walkway, garage door, porch lit up it looks like a airport runway all night long. This doesn’t include all the motion lights.
What do you all expect people to do when criminals are running rampant and liberals refuse to prosecute or follow the laws? People add lights to their houses for safety. I have motion censored ones, but I can imagine folks wanting all types depending on where they live. You probably all benefit from their lights for your safety too!
Wow, what a great idea. Not a bad priority considering all the other items that should be addressed such as crime, economy, etc. Your tax dollars at work!!! What a bunch of fools.
I thought the same! Surely there’s more pressing needs going on in the country and world rather than this. Gas prices, food prices inflation and on the edge of recession blooms a lot bigger in everyone’s life than this.
.. only in Cali… next you’ll need a permit to buy and operate a light, take training courses to operate by a certified instructor, pay annual inspection and registration fees, and only have repairs or replacements made by a certified repair person then undergo an inspection by the city – paying another fee of course.
True
This bill itself may be liberal nonsense, but the issue of artificial light disrupting all kinds of natural life and life processes is absolutely for real. Just saying…
So is voter fraud, inflation, water waste, power shortages, government corruption, homelessness, soft on crime politicians etc. etc. etc. There are some things are many more things that our “elected” leaders should be working on before we start worrying about artificial light problems. The fact that there are people on this forum that actually think that this bill has merit is scary.
@ Mac N Cheese
I absolutely agree….Far more pressing and important things that need to be addressed.
I’m all for helping wildlife – but how does Assemblyman Lee intend to train them to only fly over State structures?????
GREAT IDEA!! Criminals can now move more freely in the dark of night while committing their crimes.
Got to protect their voter base, after all!
We need part time legislators, these morons have way too much time to think up BS
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Why does does this require legislation?
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You would think that it would be standardized State specifications.
“excess artificial light may be disrupting wildlife behavior, Lee’s office said.”
Or it may not.
I guess I’m wondering, in general, how many other things in the world got passed over for attention before this came to light (no pun intended) ?
Another distraction from what the government really needs to be doing.
If it’s not a distraction, it’s a plot.
If it’s not a plot, it’s a distraction.
And vice versa.
Everytime.
As many politicians as we have in office everything should be taken care of. I think it’s great. I am tired of everything being kicked down the road.
This is a perfectly good excuse to explain why I’m all f’ed up! So should I sue PG&E or who?
Meanwhile pornography is rampant and accessible to literally anyone including our youth and our Government is doing nothing to protect the innocence of our youth.
Interesting. I’m an amateur astronomer and artificial lighting has a big impact on my hobby. I’m also a professional electrician and have a lot of experience with California Title 24 which mandates the same requirements in this bill for the rest of us (non government).
I hope this bill becomes law because of the reduction in light pollution and energy waste which eats away at a little bit of our tax dollars.
I echo some of the posters: is there any more wasteful nonsense activity coming out of the Democrats nesting??! More useful needs are protested out of existence by the Demo followers and liberal funded by the likes of Soros, Zuckerberg, et al!!
I am also an amateur astronomer and welcome any efforts to curb light pollution. Just think of all the money and energy that can be saved by not uselessly illuminating the sky!
AD
With all the insanity going on now, this is what our elected officials are dealing with? Elections have consequences. Insane waste of tax dollars.
I cannot believe how many “amateur astronomers” want everyone to get robbed. Thanks, guys.