SACRAMENTO >> The California Senate on Wednesday approved a sweeping package of climate change bills designed to cement the Golden State’s reputation as a national leader in the fight against global warming.
If enacted, the legislation will in the years ahead trigger a fundamental shift in the kinds of cars Californians drive and the way they power their homes and businesses.
Inspired by goals Gov. Jerry Brown outlined in his inaugural address, the bills are aimed at beefing up the state’s investments in clean energy, increasing building efficiency targets and cutting gasoline use in half by requiring cars and trucks to meet tougher emissions and gas mileage standards.
“We’re talking about creating a new economy for tomorrow,” said Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, a sponsor of the most far-reaching bill. “It’s nonsense that we continue with the status quo.”
Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer praised the Senate’s action on the climate package as a “bold step forward” that tackles climate change “head-on.”
“We owe it to our kids and our grandkids to protect them, and that means addressing climate change before it’s too late,” Steyer said in a statement.
De Leon has pitched the 11-bill package as a way to help the environment and create jobs for Californians who are still struggling. But the oil industry and skeptical Republicans have questioned how much the changes will cost taxpayers and businesses.
Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Temecula, called one of the proposals “coastal elitism at the worst,” arguing that Senate Bill 350 would “kill thousands of blue and white collar jobs in the Central Valley.”
The Senate’s endorsement of the legislation comes several weeks after Brown signed an agreement between California and 11 other U.S. states and foreign provinces to sharply limit emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.
That same commitment is the backbone of Senate Bill 32, sponsored by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, which would extend California’s landmark climate law, Assembly Bill 32. The current law, signed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, requires California to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a reduction of about 20 percent from “business as usual.”
The new bill — which passed the Senate 22-15 — would go much further, locking into law a goal that Schwarzenegger had set: cutting greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Senate Bill 350, sponsored by de Leon, D-Los Angeles, and Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would require the California Air Resources Board to reduce petroleum use in cars and trucks by 50 percent in the next 15 years. The Senate approved the measure on a 24-14 vote, with all Republicans voting no.
Oil companies vehemently oppose the petroleum reduction component of the legislation. An industry trade group said it’s hoping for better luck and a different outcome when the measure is considered by the state Assembly.
“We will continue to educate consumers and businesses on the enormous negative impact the legislation will have on all Californians and hope members of the Assembly are more willing to take a critical look at this legislation than did their counterparts in the Senate,” said Western States Petroleum Association President Catherine Reheis-Boyd.
The bill would also require California utilities to generate at least 50 percent of their electricity from solar, wind and other renewable energy sources by 2030 — an increase from current law which requires a third of power to come from renewable sources by 2020 — and require state agencies to toughen building standards.
Other pieces of legislation the Senate is considering today would establish a committee to advise the Legislature on climate policies that could create jobs; require that California’s pension funds for teachers and state workers divest from coal companies; and spur farmers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
