SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) made the following statement regarding today’s announcement by GE Consumer & Industrial, a Louisville-based unit of General Electric Co., that its lighting division is making advancements to the light bulb to potentially make it comparable to compact fluorescent lamp bulbs:

“Since the announcement of my legislation to ban the sale of general service incandescent light bulbs in California, the response has been overwhelming,” Assemblymember Levine said. “We’ve seen energy-efficient lighting initiatives spring up in San Francisco, New Jersey, and just this week in Australia. This momentum is achieving the desired effect of having light bulb manufacturers take a hard look at their business practices to see if, in fact, they’re doing everything they can to put the most energy-efficient technology on the market in the most expedient fashion possible. I applaud GE’s announcement today and hope others follow suit.”

Assemblymember Levine is the Chair of the Assembly’s Utilities and Commerce Committee and author of legislation – Assembly Bill 722 – to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs in California by 2012. The bill was announced on January 30 and formally introduced in the California State Legislature yesterday.