USA, California: New Legislation Should Boost Renewable Energy in the Golden State

Jerry Brown signs major climate bill: ‘This is big, and I hope it sends a message across the country’ (Sacramento Bee)

Gov. Jerry Brown, holding California out as a beacon for the nation on efforts to reduce climate change, signed into law on Wednesday a sweeping expansion of California’s greenhouse gas emission standards, requiring the state to reduce emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

The legislation, Senate Bill 32, expands on a landmark bill passed 10 years ago and will require dramatic reductions in the use of carbon in everything ranging from automobile fuels to home energy.

“This is big, and I hope it sends a message across the country,” Brown said at a signing ceremony in Los Angeles.

SB 32 gives broad authority to the California Air Resources Board to enact regulations limiting emissions. Many Republicans and business interests have said concerns about climate change are overstated and that complying with additional regulations will cost too much.

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