Fate of these bills will reveal if California Legislature is serious about climate action

Bills on corporate carbon emissions and air quality regulation will demonstrate whether the Legislature and its current leadership intend to act with urgency in addressing climate change this year. As important, their handling of the bills will signal whether Democratic legislators have the backbone to prioritize climate action over political and financial calculations and the influential trade groups that oppose such legislation.

Senate Bill 260 and Senate Bill 342, proposals that stalled last year without support, face continued ambivalence from lawmakers within the supposedly science-based, climate-conscious Democratic Party. If neither gets enough votes to pass this week, state senators will once again be guilty of the dereliction of duty that has killed dozens of sensible climate change bills over the last few years.

SB 260, the Climate Corporate Accountability Act, would require corporate giants that earn $1 billion or more in revenue to disclose greenhouse gas emissions. San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener’s bill would arm state regulators with the data to ensure California’s biggest companies are reducing emissions to meet the state’s clean energy goals.

There is good reason for California to lead on this front. California-based Chevron, which last year earned almost $95 billion in revenue, is the largest investor-owned polluter on the planet. Chevron trailed only Apple and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, among California’s largest publicly traded companies last year. A 2017 report found that 100 companies accounted for more than 70% of the world’s carbon emissions.

SB 342, authored by Sen. Lena Gonzalez of Long Beach, would allow the state to add two people who live and work in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside or San Bernardino county to the 13-member South Coast Air Quality Management District board. The goal is to add an environmental justice perspective to a board that regulates air quality in one of the most polluted regions in the country and has been consumed with partisan politics.

Unsurprisingly, the influential State Building and Construction Trades Council of California is opposed to the bill, causing moderate Democrats to turn their backs on an equity-minded proposal that could help neglected Southern California communities breathe cleaner air.

The onus is on Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and new Majority Leader Mike McGuire of Sonoma County to show leadership on both bills and get the necessary votes to help them reach the Assembly. For Atkins, inaction this early in her final year of her current term as Senate leader could cement a legacy of letting the Senate become a graveyard for climate bills.

While neither bill represents a dramatic turn in California’s handling of the climate crisis, both are meaningful and needed. Private corporations have a significant role to play in reducing carbon emissions, and expanding the South Coast’s air quality board empowers citizens to bypass unjust political games and improve the health of their communities.

California can no longer accept indifference from Atkins and other Senate Democrats on good climate policy. The fate of such bills will determine whether all the recent promises on climate are real or just more kindling for future fires.

This editorial has been updated to reflect that state Sen. Toni Atkins is in the final year of her current term as Senate president pro tem.

This story was originally published January 25, 2022 at 5:00 AM.