How do you pay off donors, friends, unions and greedy corporations? You steal from the consumers, claiming you are saving the Earth.
“Newsom’s plan would also address another California initiative under attack from the Trump administration. Specifically, it would convert the proportion of revenue that funds the state’s hot-button high-speed rail project from a 25 percent carve-out to a guaranteed minimum funding level of $1 billion annually.
“California won’t bend the knee to a federal administration hellbent on making America polluted again,” Newsom said in a statement provided to POLITICO. “Cap-and-invest is the next chapter for one of our most effective tools to clean the air and keep our communities healthy.”
Newsom also proposed rebranding the 13-year-old program, under which companies buy emission permits to meet an industry-wide cap on carbon emissions, as “cap-and-invest” in the style of Washington and New York’s programs.”
Regardless what you call this; it is legalized theft to promote corruption. Why is California in a DOOM LOOP? Look no further than this transparent theft.
Newsom to propose extending a landmark California climate law
His budget proposal would extend the state’s carbon trading program through 2045 and reserve at least $1 billion per year for high-speed rail.
By Camille von Kaenel, Politico, 5/14/25 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/14/newsom-extend-carbon-trade-program-00347442
SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday proposed a 15-year extension of California’s signature cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases — a cornerstone of the state’s climate policies and a reliable revenue generator.
Newsom’s long-awaited proposal, reported first by POLITICO, would reauthorize the state’s quarterly auction of emissions permits and change the way some of the proceeds are spent. It comes months after Newsom first indicated his plans to do so and just weeks after President Donald Trump attacked the state’s program in an April executive order.
Newsom’s plan would also address another California initiative under attack from the Trump administration. Specifically, it would convert the proportion of revenue that funds the state’s hot-button high-speed rail project from a 25 percent carve-out to a guaranteed minimum funding level of $1 billion annually.
“California won’t bend the knee to a federal administration hellbent on making America polluted again,” Newsom said in a statement provided to POLITICO. “Cap-and-invest is the next chapter for one of our most effective tools to clean the air and keep our communities healthy.”
Newsom also proposed rebranding the 13-year-old program, under which companies buy emission permits to meet an industry-wide cap on carbon emissions, as “cap-and-invest” in the style of Washington and New York’s programs.
Washington’s market launched in 2023, while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has delayed the state’s plans to launch this year.
The closely watched program currently expires in 2030, and auction revenues have been dropping due to legal uncertainty about its future. The quarterly state-run auctions generate roughly $4 billion for state coffers per year, with revenues due to rise as the cap ratchets down and the state-set price floor rises.
Newsom’s plan would shift some of the program’s spending priorities amid a wider budget hole fueled in part by Trump’s tariffs.
He proposed shifting $1.5 billion of the program’s revenues to the general fund to backfill the state’s firefighting agency, whose slice of the general fund has doubled over the last 10 years amid record-breaking wildfires and moves to hire more firefighters and purchase more equipment. Last year alone, Cal Fire’s total budget was $4.2 billion.
“We’re going to make polluters pay for solutions to the climate crisis they helped create,” Newsom said.
The phrase echoes efforts in the state Legislature to tap oil and gas companies to pay for climate damages, though Newsom has not weighed in on the bills, which have stalled so far amid industry opposition.
The governor’s pitch also includes continuing to fund utility bill credits from the program.
It stays mum on the finer points of the debate over the mechanics of the program itself, such as whether regulators should get rid of free allowances for businesses.
The proposal kicks off negotiations with legislative leaders, who have already jointly pledged to reauthorize the cap-and-trade program this year. The Legislature’s reauthorization vehicles are Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin’s AB 1207 and Sen. Monique Limón’s SB 840.
