The bills, SB 32, sponsored by Senator Fran Pavle, and AB 197, sponsored by Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia, had been introduced in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Jerry Brown today signed into law legislation that dramatically extends the state’s goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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The new measure sets a new goal of reducing emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. Jerry Brown extended the nation’s most ambitious climate change law by another 10 years.
Last month a coalition of 177 businesses – among them Levi’s eBay, The North Face and Gap, Inc. – organized by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), sent a letter to California lawmakers urging them to support the bill. “The successful effort behind these two bills is the latest sign of a growing consensus that protecting the environment and improving public health are inextricably linked and that maintaining that link is key to advancing future environmental actions”.
The Democratic governor signed the legislation in a Los Angeles park amid opposition from the oil industry, business groups and Republicans. The scale and ambition of this bill will also keep California at the forefront of clean technology investment for years to come.
California’s crusade against climate change started under former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed the state’s original emissions-control law, known as AB32. SB 32 codifies an executive order Brown issued a year ago. He said that bills like SB 32 and AB 197 are extensive moves that have been keeping California on its path of huge innovation and environmental flexibility.
The state plans to build on that foundation and ramp up other efforts including increasing renewable electricity use, boosting energy efficiency in existing buildings and putting 1.5 million zero-emissions vehicles on the road, according to the California Air Resources Board, which is in charge of climate policy.
The law doesn’t address the cap-and-trade program, which requires companies that spew greenhouse gases to buy pollution permits that are auctioned quarterly. They said they couldn’t get there by 2020.
A news release from Garcia says the legislation also requires the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to prioritize direct emission reductions and consider potential impacts when adopting regulations to reduce GHG emissions. All three states’ targets still lag behind Vermont’s goals, however, which mandate a 50 percent reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by 2028.
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The measures in the most populous USA state would extend by 10 years California’s main greenhouse gas reduction program and beef up oversight of the state agency charged with implementing it.
