Senate Votes to Require Cleaner-Running Cars, Light Trucks

SACRAMENTO —  Siding with conservationists over automobile manufacturers, the Senate voted Thursday to fight global warming with new restrictions on tailpipe emissions of cars and light trucks.

The bill AB 1058 matched all the big-name car makers against environmental organizations in a clash reminiscent of their first collisions more than three decades ago.

The Senate returned the measure to the Assembly for expected approval. It would then go to Gov. Gray Davis, handing him a difficult political choice as he seeks reelection both as an advocate for environmental protection and as a supporter of business and commerce.

Russ Lopez, a spokesman for Davis, said the governor had not yet taken a position on the bill. “He wants to make sure it doesn’t adversely affect either group,” Lopez said.

Senate approval, on a 22-13 vote, provided a victory for environmentalists who for at least a month had fought against a costly advertising blitz opposing the bill.

They claimed that opponents spread misinformation by suggesting that the plan would increase taxes and the cost of automobiles.

The proposal, by first-term Assemblywoman Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), would direct the state Air Resources Board to devise and approve unspecified rules that get “maximum feasible and cost-effective” reduction of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

The standards would take effect in 2006. It also would prohibit the board from banning the sale of any motor vehicle by category, including SUVs and light trucks. Additionally, it would order the air board not to impose any tax on miles driven or to impose any restrictions on land use.

Although scientists are split, many experts say that manufactured carbon dioxide is contributing to global warming, a phenomenon that could have potentially devastating effects on California. Those might include reducing the water supply from a diminished Sierra snowpack and damaging the coastline by altering delicate ocean ecosystems and raising the sea level.

In California, proponents of the bill contend, cars and light trucks contribute about 40% of the greenhouse gas pollution, producing twice as much greenhouse gas as other regions of the nation.

Opponents contend, however, that California’s contribution to global warming is less than 0.1%.

But Republicans, who with Democratic Assemblyman Mike Machado of Linden cast all the votes against the bill, suggested that the proposal would result in new taxes, less choice for car buyers and higher prices for vehicles, especially highly popular SUVs.

Democrats argued that the clean-air board has no power to raise anybody’s taxes.

But Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), the GOP candidate for state controller, claimed the bill would give such power to the agency.

“Voters will see thousands of dollars go out of their pockets as a result of this,” he said.

“The price of those [SUVs] will go up, but the rich people will be able to afford them,” said Sen. Ray Haynes (R-Riverside).

But other people would not be able to afford new SUVs and would buy used ones instead, and produce even more carbon-dioxide pollution, he said.

Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) noted that the well-heeled automobile industry had mobilized to kill the bill, just as it did in years past when it opposed removing lead from gasoline, fought safety belts, lobbied against federal fuel-efficiency standards and more recently claimed air bags were not feasible. All came to pass.

“Their credibility is, at the very best, low,” Bowen told the Senate.

By opposing the bill, she said, the auto industry is “fighting to stay stuck in the past.”

Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), Senate floor manager for the bill, told her colleagues that it was their duty to order manufacturers to make changes when necessary.

“If we don’t do something to protect the people, God be with us,” she said.

Supporters of the bill included the Bluewater Network, Coalition for Clean Air, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, American Lung Assn., League of Conservation Voters, the city of Los Angeles, various scientists and public officials.

Opponents included the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents virtually every car maker, General Motors, Daimler Chrysler, the California Motor Car Dealers Assn., California State Automobile Assn., California Chamber of Commerce and the Western States Petroleum Assn., which represents major oil companies.