The Climate Accountability Package, which included Senator Scott Wiener’s SB 253 and Senator Henry Stern’s SB 261, will likely be delayed for several years due to hostility from the administration.
Even back when he signed the bill into law on October 7, 2023, the Governor expressed concern about bill’s financial impact on businesses, and indicated he would direct CARB to “streamline” the program. News reports indicated that CARB itself had urged amendments to weaken the climate disclosure law by removing requirements for businesses to report Scope 3 emissions. (See purported draft here.) Earlier this year, Governor Newsom proposed leaving out funding for their implementation from his January budget proposal; he reinstated funding in the May revised proposal, as part of a compromise that would fund all chaptered laws. That said, he proposed changes in the law that would substantially delay its implementation until 2028 for reporting on Scope 1 and 2 emissions and 2029 till Scope 3 emissions. A trailer bill incorporating this language has been drafted and is part of this year’s overall budget negotiations.
The Senators who drafted these bills are opposed to the changes.
For more on this, see our earlier blogs: Climate Transparency in California Is at Risk and SB 253 and 261: Climate Accountability Package Includes New Corporate Transparency Requirements.