Brown also signed a bill that would provide greater oversight of the appointed Air Resources Board, which is in charge of climate policy.
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California, which now has the most aggressive carbon reduction targets in North America, will impose stricter limits on emissions from factories, power plants and vehicles under legislation signed yesterday by Gov. Jerry Brown signed two measures Thursday that make the nation’s most advanced climate laws even tougher, overcoming opposition that once imperiled his goals. 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.
According to a press release from the governor, Brown signed the bills on Thursday at the Vista Hermosa Natural Park, a 10-acre urban wilderness project built atop an old oil field and the first public park built in more than 100 years in the densely populated western edge of downtown Los Angeles. The California Chamber of Commerce has a pending legal challenge to the tax on carbon known as cap-and-trade, which requires polluters to buy permits to emit greenhouse gases.
Brown, a Democrat who has traveled the world promoting greenhouse-gas reduction efforts, issued an executive order past year setting the new 2030 goal.
AB 197 has made a legislative committee to work on policies relating to climate change to assist in ensuring that the state’s actions to decrease GHG emissions have been taken with accountability and transparency.
California, the most populous state in the U.S., is now on track to meet the original 2020 climate goal.
SB 32 extends Californias landmark greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Brown said that climate change exists, and being aware about the same California has made a decision to take action. They also question how Democratic lawmakers with a majority in the legislature are using the money generated by fees paid in the cap and trade program.
The legislation is a priority for Brown.
“This is big and I hope it sends a message across the country”, Brown said at the signing ceremony.
“With SB 32, we continue California’s leadership on climate change, we keep making sure our air gets cleaner and we ensure the economic and environmental benefits of our efforts to reach all California communities”, he said.
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Critics have also questioned the viability of the cap-and-trade program, which caps the amount of greenhouse gas companies can produce – but allows for the purchase at auction of emission permits, and allows businesses to trade credits among themselves.
