California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: greenhouse gas emissions: regulation.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the State Air Resources 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 state board is required to adopt greenhouse gas emissions limits and emission reduction measures by regulation to achieve the prescribed emission reductions. This bill would require a state or local agency, before adopting or amending a regulation after January 1, 2010, to evaluate and measure the effectiveness of any regulations adopted by the state or local agency on or before January 1, 2010, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and obtain an independent 3rd–party economic impact analysis of any proposed regulation that the state or local agency determines would impose aggregate costs of $1,000,000 or more on greenhouse gas emission sources subject to the proposed regulation, irrespective of the economic or noneconomic benefits of the regulation. The bill would require a state or local agency to consider the severity of any adverse economic impact identified by the 3rd-party analysis, and would authorize the agency on that ground to revise or choose not to adopt the proposed regulation. The bill would require the agency, if it adopts the proposed regulation without revision, to make findings, supported by evidence, that the adoption of the proposed regulation is reasonable. The bill would prohibit a state or local agency from adopting or amending a regulation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after January 1, 2010, that imposes a greenhouse gas emission requirement on a greenhouse gas emission source that is more stringent than any regulation adopted by that state or local agency on or before January 1, 2010, that is applicable to that emission source, until eight years after the date that emission source achieved compliance with that earlier regulation.