Pavley’s bill was created to cut greenhouse gas emissions, while Garcia’s measure was created to make sure disadvantaged communities see the benefit of emissions reductions and to give the California Legislature oversight of putting climate policies into action.
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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.
SB 32-established law has GHG decrease goals decided by the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or AB 32, aimed to slash GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
The legislation is likely to continue building Brown’s reputation as one of the country’s staunchest actors on climate-change legislation. “Climate change is real – and knowing that, California is taking action”.
“Harmful emissions are going down, and the economy is going up”, said lawmaker Anthony Rendon.
The oil industry, business groups and Republicans opposed the legislation.
Shawn Yadon, CEO of the California Trucking Association, told the LA Times that the state’s existing climate regulations are a big business expense, and the new law will require even more spending.
California, the most populous state in the U.S., is now on track to meet the original 2020 climate goal.
“The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office earlier this year issued a report stating that there were little to no reductions in greenhouse emissions despite billions of dollars having been spent from cap-and-trade revenue, which are dollars ultimately collected in the form of higher prices by consumers”, he said.
“We once again raised the bar for the nation and the world to follow”, says Senate President Pro-Tem Kevin de León.
California is already on track to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Brown, who has traveled the world promoting greenhouse-gas reduction efforts, issued an executive order a year ago setting those goals.
Pavley said SB 32 will trigger more jobs in clean energy sector, demonstrating that the state can combat climate change while also spurring economic growth. The Bee reported that Brown also lambasted his opponents in Sacramento, calling them “Trump-inspired acolytes”, but concluded that “they have been vanquished” with the passage of SB 32.
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“Our climate change policies today represent a turning of the page as it relates to focusing on people”, said Democratic Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, who wrote AB 197. 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.
