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Sacramento Snapshot: California could create ‘inventory’ of cities’ greenhouse gas emissions

June 26, 2023

Editor’s note: Sacramento Snapshot is a weekly series during the legislative session detailing what Orange County’s representatives in the Assembly and Senate are working on — from committee work to bill passages and more.

As cities like Irvine prep their climate action plans — their framework to help California achieve its climate goals — they rely on their own studies on where greenhouse gas emissions originate. And that’s if they’re able to conduct such a survey at all.

So legislators are working on an effort to create a uniform inventory of sorts for cities and counties to utilize in these plans and other climate efforts. The California Air Resources Board would, under Senate Bill 511, develop these inventories for cities and counties showing electrical and natural gas usage broken down by residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural sectors.

“Providing an inventory gives local governments a roadmap on how to best reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet their climate goals,” said Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat who represents southern Orange County and is championing the legislation.

“This is something that makes a lot of sense if you’re trying to meet certain goals,” she said. “In order to meet the goal, you have to know where the emission is coming from in the first place.”

While cities are not required to come up with climate action plans, they are encouraged to. Cities do need to include climate adaptation and resilience strategies in their general plans, however.

California has a goal to reduce its emissions to 40% below its 1990 levels by 2030. This bill, proponents say, will help with that.

“While important actions have been taken and resources allocated at the state level, it is local communities and governments that are on the front lines of meeting the challenge,” the nonprofit CivicWell said in a recent letter in support of the bill that included Buena Park Councilmember Josse Trinidad Castaneda as a signatory. (Buena Park is listed as a registered supporter of the bill.)

“This bill … would provide critical data essential to the task of drafting the best (climate action plans) possible and making the best decisions on the application of available resources to benefit communities,” the letter said.

After seeing bipartisan support in the Senate, the bill last week cleared the Assembly Natural Resources Committee and heads to appropriations. And that’s where the catch might be.

The bill comes with an estimated $2.5 million needed in the 2024-25 fiscal year — and then similar amounts every five years — to offset the Air Resources Board’s total cost to implement the inventory.

Blakespear believes the price tag is a bit high because there are universities and other environmental organizations that could be consulted to help with the work. And similar work is already being done to compile the data, so it’s not starting from scratch.

“The biggest question is not whether it’s good policy but whether there’s money attached to it,” she said.

In other news

• A proposed constitutional amendment solidifying Californians’ right to join a union and negotiate with their employers cleared the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee last week. From Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, it would prohibit any ordinance or statute that could impede employees’ right to collective bargaining.

Umberg points to five states that have protections for collective bargaining rights in their constitutions (Hawaii, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey and New York) and says California should further ensure it will “counteract anti-union efforts on the local, state and federal level that threaten the progress workers have achieved that will undermine economic opportunity.”

Sens. Blakespear; Dave Min-D, Irvine; and Josh Newman, D-Fullerton; as well as Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, are co-authors.

• Sen. Janet Nguyen, R-Huntington Beach, implored the State Lands Commission last week to ensure the San Clemente Sand Replenishment Project can continue. A partnership between the city, the federal government and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was signed in May. The plan is to dredge some 250,000 cubic yards of sand from Oceanside to be placed on a 3,400-foot stretch of coast in San Clemente, filling in the beach about 50 feet out toward the sea from the shoreline.

• Survivors of forced and child marriages, donning white dresses and veils, rallied in front of the Capitol last week with the nonprofit Unchained At Last in an effort to end child marriage. California does not have a minimum age for marriage, according to the group.

A bill from Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Fremont, making it a misdemeanor for someone to knowingly and willingly sanction or arrange a marriage or domestic partnership between a minor and another person is before the Assembly.

But Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine, who spoke at the rally, said she plans to introduce legislation next year to end the practice as well.

“After years of progress in the fight to end child marriage, California is now one of only six states with no minimum age for marriage,” Petrie-Norris said. “That is shameful. It is long past time to right this wrong.”

Thank you @UnchainedAtLast for hosting a press conference in protest against forced child marriage. No child should ever be forced into a marriage they do not consent to. That is why I am committed to ending this human rights abuse in California. pic.twitter.com/amQTdb5wcE

— Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (@AsmCottie) June 22, 2023

Staff writer Laylan Connelly contributed to this report.

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