BILL NUMBER: SB 128 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 2, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Padilla
FEBRUARY 5, 2009
An act to add Division 25.6 (commencing with Section 38700) to the
Health and Safety Code, relating to climate change.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 128, as amended, Padilla. California Climate Change Institute.
The existing California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
requires the State Air Resources Board (state board) to adopt
regulations to require the reporting and verification of emissions of
greenhouse gases and to monitor and enforce compliance with the
reporting and verification program, and requires the state board to
adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the
statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by
2020. The act requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations
in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically
feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to
enact legislation to create the California Climate Change
Institute to (A) identify and support, through a merit-based
peer-reviewed competitive grant process, research and education to be
undertaken at academic and research institutions and laboratories
throughout the state, (B) oversee, coordinate, and manage a
nonduplicative, targeted research and development program for the
purposes of achieving the state's targets for reducing emissions of
greenhouse gases and mitigating the effects of those emissions, (C)
develop effective model education pathways, training, model
curriculum, and professional development necessary for emerging green
technologies and industries, and (D) ensure that its climate change
research is conducted in a manner that is targeted and nonduplicative
of other research programs. The bill would make implementation
of its provisions subject to sufficient funds being appropriated by
the Legislature for its purposes.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Division 25.6 (commencing with Section 38700) is added
to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
DIVISION 25.6. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT RELATED TO CLIMATE
CHANGE
PART 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
38700. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) There is now overwhelming scientific consensus among the
experts that our fossil fuel-intensive energy economy is driving
climate change. The impact of climate change will be pervasive,
altering our water resource base and our agricultural system, with
effects upon human and ecological health.
(b) While a global phenomena, climate change will likely impact
affluent and poorer communities differently, as well as requiring new
methods for protecting endangered ecosystems. As a society, we must
have a research base to show how fast the climate is changing, what
degree of climate protection we can implement through low-carbon
energy systems, and how we can adapt to the climate change we cannot
prevent.
(c) California has long been a leader in altering "business as
usual" carbon-intensive economic behavior and demonstrating how those
alterations can moderate greenhouse gas emissions, and thus, the
extent and pace of climate change. California must continue and
expand these efforts, and to do so will require information,
knowledge, and understanding, not only about the science of climate
change, but also about new practices to lower energy demand, and the
emerging economic and legal frameworks that can help manage our
energy demand and the impacts climate change will have on the planet.
(d) The risks of climate change and the economic insecurity that
high fossil fuel energy prices have brought to California and the
global economy have unleashed a wave of efforts to set state,
national, and regional targets to safeguard the planet. Some of the
most notable are the 25-percent reduction in emissions of greenhouse
gases by 2020 and the 80-percent reduction by 2050 that California
has adopted under the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
and Executive Order S-3-05, the 70-percent or more reductions
proposed in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Japan, and the
100-percent fossil fuel free plans of Sweden. These plans are
consistent with the 80-percent or more reduction in emissions of
greenhouse gases that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
has determined is needed by 2050.
(e) California's unique history in addressing climate change
includes pathbreaking scientific and technological research, as well
as the development of new economic techniques and assessments of the
social impacts of changing environmental conditions. University of
California researchers have been at the forefront of international
research efforts that have found there can be significant local
benefits to confronting climate change, including energy savings from
"greening" the state's buildings and industries, creating job
growth, and building export opportunities in some of the fastest
growing economic sectors.
(f) To maintain California's position of leadership in climate
science, and to address the many questions that climate change brings
to society, California must mobilize an unprecedented network of
scholars, at our universities, national laboratories, California's
private universities, civic and government leaders, industry
associations and companies, and environmental groups to create the
world's leading climate research and action-oriented institute.
(g) California has in place not only the California Global Warming
Solutions Act of 2006, that calls for a return to 1990 emissions
levels by 2020 and the goal of 80 percent overall cuts by 2050, as
contained in Executive Order S-3-05, but also an important package of
policies across many state agencies that need to respond to the
challenge of climate change. California's economy is particularly
sensitive to the climate due to our reliance on water storage in
snowpack and our productive agricultural systems, and California has
unique air quality issues owing to the geography of the state. These
factors make California particularly vulnerable to climate change and
give the state a unique role in addressing the problem.
(h) California needs to both support research and implementation
efforts to address the scientific issues of climate change and to
deploy climate-friendly energy, water, agricultural, and industrial
systems to benefit not only the state, but the global community that
often looks to innovations in California as ways to address new
challenges. This, in turn, provides economic opportunities for
California, as its science, technology, and policy innovation
landscape can be, and often is, exported to the rest of the nation
and the world.
(i) New legal requirements and changing practices relative to the
energy generation and conservation sectors will lead to new
industries dependent upon an educated and highly skilled workforce.
Conservation of natural resources and efforts to mitigate the impact
of climate change are affecting the education and continuing
education needs of engineers, scientists, and the myriad of workers
in California's emerging green economy. California must invest in the
preparation of the workforce entrusted to be stewards of our
resources and those who will invent, manufacture, install, repair,
market, and ship goods around the world.
(j) The pervasive nature of the threat of climate change further
means that coordination across not only state agencies, but also
local municipalities, educational institutions, and business and
industry sectors is vital to a successful and timely approach to
climate change. These functions, as well as coordination with
existing world-class state efforts on energy and resource management
and avoidance of duplication of efforts, are important core missions
of a climate change response initiative.
PART 2. INTENT OF THE LEGISLATURE
CALIFORNIA CLIMATE CHANGE INSTITUTE
38705. It is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to create the California Climate Change Institute
The California Climate Change Institute is hereby
created to do all of the following:
(a) Identify and support, through a merit-based peer-reviewed
competitive grant process, research and education to be undertaken at
academic and research institutions and laboratories throughout the
state. It is the intent of the Legislature that all California
institutions of higher education and all federal laboratories in
California be eligible to participate in the institute's grant
programs.
(b) Oversee, coordinate, and manage a nonduplicative, targeted
research and development program for the purposes of achieving the
state's targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and
mitigating the effects of those emissions, and helping California
mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
(c) Develop effective model education pathways, training, model
curriculum, and professional development necessary for emerging green
technologies and industries. The institute shall also provide the
Legislature, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, school
districts and charter schools that maintain any of kindergarten and
grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and the California Community Colleges
recommendations on implementation of the education pathways,
training, model curriculum, and professional development.
(d) Ensure that its climate change research is conducted in a
manner that is targeted and nonduplicative of other research
programs.
(e) Focus on the following program areas:
(1) Research on technologies that advance California's targets for
reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or mitigating the effects of
those emissions, with an emphasis on making these technologies
commercially viable and available.
(2) Social science research to facilitate the transition to a
low-carbon economy by increasing knowledge about human behavior and
decisionmaking to improve policies, programs, and analytic methods
and accelerate clean technology adoption and climate-positive action.
(3)
(2) Adaptation and forecasting, including
understanding, assessing, monitoring, and predicting the effects of
climate change on California's resources, including its water supply,
forests, coastal lands, agricultural lands, species, and habitat.
(4)
(3) Green workforce development strategies, including
career exploration at the middle school level, high school career
technical education, and articulation between kindergarten and grades
1 to 12, inclusive, certificate programs at community colleges,
state-approved apprenticeships, and other postsecondary educational
programs.
38706. This part shall be implemented only to the extent that
sufficient funds are appropriated by the Legislature for its
purposes.