Daniel Farber and Richard Frank: Proposition 23 and the Damage It Would Do to California
[Daniel Farber, a professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law, directs the law school's environmental program and is chair of UC Berkeley's Energy and Resource Group. Richard Frank is executive director of the UC Berkeley School of Law's Center for Law, Energy & the Environment.]
In November, California voters will make a key decision about the state's climate change policy, with long-term impacts on our economic future. A ballot initiative, Proposition 23, would suspend California's Global Warming Solutions Act, better known as AB 32. The measure was enacted by the Legislature in 2006, with the strong support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
AB 32 requires the state to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, about 30% below projected emission levels if AB 32 were not in effect. It was intended to strengthen and coordinate earlier California laws addressing climate change. But Proposition 23 would place current AB 32 measures in limbo and prevent any new ones until the state achieves a dramatic level of sustained economic prosperity — four consecutive quarters of unemployment below 5.5%....
Read entire article at LA Times
In November, California voters will make a key decision about the state's climate change policy, with long-term impacts on our economic future. A ballot initiative, Proposition 23, would suspend California's Global Warming Solutions Act, better known as AB 32. The measure was enacted by the Legislature in 2006, with the strong support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
AB 32 requires the state to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, about 30% below projected emission levels if AB 32 were not in effect. It was intended to strengthen and coordinate earlier California laws addressing climate change. But Proposition 23 would place current AB 32 measures in limbo and prevent any new ones until the state achieves a dramatic level of sustained economic prosperity — four consecutive quarters of unemployment below 5.5%....