California is a little bit greener now that Gov. Jerry Brown signed an ambitious bill Wednesday combating climate change.
The bill titled SB350 aims to increase the state's renewable energy usage to 50 percent, as well as double energy efficiency in existing buildings by 2030.
That being said, the bill didn't make it to the Governor's desk without cuts, specifically one area involving oil cuts. There were many debates and compromise before the bill passed.
Brown, a Democrat, met with the pope at the Vatican to discuss climate change last July. While meeting with other world leaders as well, Brown introduced the ideas of increasing the states renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency, but he also pitched the idea of cutting petroleum use in half.
Senate President Pro Tem. Kevin de Leon, Democrat, took the Governor's three major climate change ambitions and drafted them into the bill SB350. The bill had no problems passing through the Senate but reached resistance from moderate Democrats when it entered the Assembly after summer recess.
It was here that the political battle for SB350 began. Moderate Democrats were worried specifically about the cut in petroleum and how it would affect working-class families. They feared that this would cause a significant loss of jobs, and also called for greater oversight of state regulators as well as the California Air Resources Board, which is in charge of implementing the state's current greenhouse gas law.
Brown refused these compromises and continued to debate the importance of cutting petroleum output statewide. Eventually, the Assembly won, and the bill was changed in order to soften the stance on petroleum.
The bill removed the proposed cap on oil, as well as defers to state regulators to implement the programs.
The Governor blamed this loss on excessive oil company advertising. He called it a short-term setback, and said this only motivates him more to resolve the environment issue in the future.
"I'd say oil has won the skirmish, but they've lost the bigger battle," Brown said when he announced that lawmakers were scaling back the initial goals of the bill.
Some critics believe the bill is now not forceful enough. Assistant Professor of Research at USC's Price School of Public Policy Nicole Sintov believes that while it would have been nice to have the oil portion remain intact, it will not hinder the success of the bill.
"This bill is about electricity generation…and oil is not a big part of our electricity generation in the state or in L.A., so I don't see that particularly playing a role in whether or not we get to the goal," Sintov said.
When the Legislature approved the bill in the final hours of the session on Sept. 11, Brown remained very optimistic.
"We have the technological means and now we have the legal mandate to reduce carbon pollution," he said.
Well the bill has lost a large portion of its goal, it will still be doubling energy efficiency in existing buildings and increasing the state's renewable energy to 50 percent. So in November when Brown attends the United Nations climate change conference in Paris, he will still have good things to report.
"This will be a long march to transition the entire modern world to a decarbonized future. It's big, it's important and we're doing it in California," Brown said.
Annenberg Media