Dutton Calls on Air Board to Freeze Anti–
Warming Measures Until Jobs Impact
Report is Complete
Air Board has missed its own deadline, refused
to set completion date

SACRAMENTO–Senate Republican Leader–elect Bob Dutton (R–Rancho Cucamonga) has sent a letter to California Air Resources Board (CARB) Chairwoman Mary Nichols calling on her to suspend implementation of AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, until a “valid, peer–reviewed economic analysis has been completed.”

Senator Dutton sent the letter to Mary Nichols after learning that CARB has yet to redo its initial flawed economic analysis by a promised Dec. 31, 2009 deadline. Last week CARB staff acknowledged that the new economic analysis has yet to be completed. Further, staff said they didn’t know when it would be done. (View my letter)

“Mary Nichols and CARB continue to drag their feet on what should be priority number one–the potential impact their actions will have on jobs,” Senator Dutton said. “So while CARB barrels forward to implement anti–global warming measures, they do so completely ignorant of the true economic impact their actions will have on Californians’ jobs and our economy.”

A key study from Sacramento State University economists estimates that the cost of AB 32 could be as high as 1.1 million lost jobs and a 10% reduction in the state’s economy.

Senator Dutton introduced legislation last year, SB 295 that would have required CARB to redo its flawed economic analysis. The bill was killed by Democrats in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee after Mary Nichols assured the majority party that SB 295 was unnecessary because the new economic analysis would be completed by Dec. 31, 2009.

“Mary Nichols and CARB should be held to the same standard they expect California businesses to follow,” Senator Dutton said. “We can do that by immediately suspending implementation of AB 32 until the revised economic analysis is complete.”