The state assembly had passed the bill a day earlier, which broadened California’s 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act. Jerry Brown, who has put climate change at the forefront of his priorities and touted the state’s moves at the Vatican, at a climate summit in Paris and at the Democratic National Convention this summer.
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California may already be the USA state with the most ambitious climate targets, but it is now set to stretch its emissions goal even further with the introduction of new binding targets to slash emissions to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030.
“We can wean ourselves from a fossil fuel 20th Century to a renewably fueled 21st Century, which is where we all know we need to get if we’re going to have a planet on which to live in the decades ahead”, said Sen. “Really, we are the leader”, said Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, D-San Diego.
The current version of SB 32 does not extend the state’s cap-and-trade system, which is set to expire after 2020.
On the Assembly floor Wednesday, lawmakers said the first step to ending rape is calling sexual assault what it is. “This will trigger more investment and more jobs in our thriving clean-energy sector and solidify California’s leadership in demonstrating to the world that we can combat climate change while also spurring economic growth”.
Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, a strong advocate of the state’s climate initiatives, has said he’ll sign the bill when it comes to his desk. Now, the new bill is meant to focus on improving California’s infrastructure. Two Democrats opposed the bill, with five abstaining, while just one Republican voted in favor.
Supporters of the bill said it addressed a bias against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer victims, who are not afforded the same protections as heterosexuals, though statistics show they are more likely to be victims of sexual violence.
Western States Petroleum Association lobbyist Eloy Garcia argued that some of AB 197’s technical language could threaten cap and trade, a program he described as “the only saving part of a very aggressive climate change program”.
California’s existing restrictions on carbon emissions and cap-and-trade program for selling pollution credits have added an estimated 12 cents a gallon to retail gasoline prices and about $5 a megawatt-hour to wholesale electricity, according to reports from the state’s tax board and power grid operator.
The new bills do not state if they would use cap-and-trade to controlling carbon emissions and the like, or if the state should seek out an alternate means of enforcing the standards.
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Garcia is one of the Assembly’s moderate Democrats who did not support the measure previous year. Both bills must be signed into law for either to take effect.
