Santa Monica Municipal Code Ch. 2.28 City's Purchase and Use of Tropical Forest Wood Products

The City Council of the City of Santa Monica finds and declares:

(a) Tropical rainforests are being destroyed at a rate of fifty thousand acres per day across the world, and the use of imported tropical timber by the United States leads to a substantial loss of tropical rainforests. Scientific evidence has shown that destruction of tropical rainforests is partially responsible for the Greenhouse Effect, or global warming.

(b) The logging of tropical rainforests frequently results in the displacement of indigenous rainforest peoples and often results in the death of the people and of their knowledge and culture.

(c) Tropical rainforests are home to half of the world's species. The loss of tropical rainforests results in the extinction of millions of species.

(d) A public informational campaign directed at educating the public about the dangers of rainforest destruction coupled with a ban on the purchase use of tropical timber by the City of Santa Monica can reduce the demand for tropical timber, thus slowing the destruction of tropical rainforests, and protecting the health and welfare of the citizens of Santa Monica.

(Prior code § 2550; added by Ord. No. 1555CCS, adopted 10/23/90)

The following words and phrases shall have the following meanings when used in this Chapter:

(a)

Tropical rainforest.

Tropical rainforests are those forested areas bordering the equatorial region where rainfall is not less than eighty inches yearly. Included within this designation are the forested areas found in Central America, the Amazon River basin, central and western Africa, southeast Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and New Guinea.

(b)

Tropical hardwood.

Tropical hardwoods are woods classified as hardwoods that are grown in tropical rainforests. Hardwoods are scientifically classified as angiosperm and include, but are not limited to, the following:

(Prior code § 2551; added by Ord. No. 1555CCS, adopted 10/23/90)

(a) The City of Santa Monica shall not purchase or use any tropical hardwood product, nor shall any City-sponsored event utilize such products.

(b) All contracts between the City and any supplier of wood products entered into after the effective date of this Chapter shall include provisions that the supplier will supply no tropical wood, that the supplier will state on each invoice for wood products that the package is not tropical wood, and that failure to comply with such a provision constitutes a material breach of the contract.

(c) The City Manager is authorized to promulgate regulations and to take any and all other actions reasonable and necessary to enforce this Section.

(Prior code § 2552; added by Ord. No. 1555CCS, adopted 10/23/90)

Violations of this Chapter shall be punished as follows:

(a) Any person who violates this Chapter shall be guilty of an infraction subject to a fine of not less than fifty dollars and not more than one hundred fifty dollars.

(b) Any person who violates this Chapter after having received written notice from the City to comply with this Chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(Prior code § 2554; added by Ord. No. 1555CCS, adopted 10/23/90)