In the final weeks of this year’s legislative session, the California Legislature struck far-reaching agreements on climate-change legislation at a time when it wasn’t clear that the political will existed for such a deal.
The Legislature first passed a pair of measures that would extend the state’s ambitious climate-change targets and provide additional legislative oversight of the California Air Resources Board. Then, on the very last day of the session, legislative leaders and the governor agreed on how to spend $900 million in cap-and-trade revenues that have been unspent for over a year.