Implementing the state’s climate protection law, AB 32 should be postponed, according to state Republican lawmakers. During a December 11 Senate subcommittee budget hearing, Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) urged a one-year delay in the law’s start date due to the current economic crisis and because one economist concluded that adopting AB 32’s scoping plan would “threaten 1.5 million jobs” in California’s manufacturing sector. “AB 32 will create jobs,” Senator Patricia Wiggins, (D-Santa Rosa) shot back. The California Air Resources Board adopted a basic blueprint for reducing greenhouse gas emissions the same day. Hollingsworth and other Republicans said that third-party economic studies of the Air Board’s plan are critical to the state’s economic health. While they strive to delay greenhouse gas reduction implementation at the Air Board while more studies are launched, only the governor can make that call. The Air Board’s economic analysis has been criticized by environmental, business and labor representatives as well. The state Legislative Analyst’s Office said the Air Board’s economic study was flawed. A key problem is that it “lacks rigor,” LAO analyst Jay Nichols told budget subcommittee lawmakers December 11. He also said the agency concluded that the plan did not identify where costs and benefits would be incurred and in what year. Earlier in the week, another Republican pitched delaying greenhouse gas reductions. Assemblymember Mike Villines (R-Fresno) proposed his caucus’ wish list for the upcoming budget, including postponing the launch date of AB 32. In addition, the Republican leadership also is calling for outside economic analysis of the Air Board’s new adopted blueprint. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger supports sticking to AB 32’s implementation schedule, Ken DeRossa, with the Department of Finance told lawmakers Thursday. AB 32 allows the governor to delay implementation of AB 32 under “extraordinary circumstances” or if its launch would result in “significant economic harm.”
