Editorial: Key bill -- and Núñez's legacy -- in the balance

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez has rightly earned international plaudits for authoring Assembly Bill 32, the landmark law that requires California to reduce its greenhouse gases 25 percent by 2020.

Passage of this 2006 law has propelled California to the forefront of the fight against global warming. If it can be properly implemented, this law could propel California to a cleaner future and could create a model for other states and nations to follow.

Yet as Núñez knows, the state's transportation network poses California's greatest challenge in meeting the mandates of AB 32. Emissions from cars, trucks and other transportation sources generate 41 percent of California's greenhouse gases, and they are growing all the time.

Unless steps are taken to greatly reduce these emissions, the state's population growth -- with more people driving farther for work or play -- could overwhelm all other efforts to cut greenhouse pollution.

That's why it's so crucial that Núñez and other state lawmakers support Senate Bill 375, an attempt to encourage smart transportation planning in the years ahead.

In a nutshell, SB 375 would create incentives for metropolitan regions to reduce pollution from cars and trucks by calculating how those emissions would vary under different development scenarios.

Dispersal of state transportation dollars would depend on regions conducting these reviews, as the Sacramento region and some other areas have done. Regions that chose to develop in a land-efficient, transit-friendly pattern -- as opposed to leapfrog development -- would get relief from certain requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.

This would help cities to grow up, instead of out, with better prospects for transit and fewer long-distance commutes -- a major cause of smog and greenhouse pollution.

Over the last several months, the bill's author, Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, has worked with an array of interest groups to finetune the bill and address concerns. All along, he has faced continuing opposition from the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Building Industry Association, which have yet to propose a workable alternative for curtailing emissions from the transportation sector.

Even more mystifying is the behavior of the League of California Cities. Although the League claims it isn't trying to kill Steinberg's legislation, it attacked the bill in a recent letter to the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, and has waffled, at times, on what changes it wants to see.

On Friday, the League's executive director, Christopher McKenzie, acknowledged that the letter sent to SACOG contained inaccuracies and didn't fully reflect his organization's views. Nonetheless, the League's actions have helped turn the tide against SB 375, which has already passed the Senate, and Steinberg now plans to make it a "two-year" bill.

Núñez should not let this happen. At this point in last year's Legislature, Núñez was able to knock heads and resolve differences over AB 32. He should do so again with SB 375. California's global warming law -- and the speaker's environmental legacy -- depend on California tackling its transportation challenges now, not waiting until some hazy future.