Governor Jerry Brown pulled off what may be the ultimate trick of his storied political career this week, extending for another 10 years the lifespan of California’s cap-and-trade program by wheeling, dealing, and browbeating into submission both houses and both parties of California’s reluctant Legislature.
But when the dust settled on Monday’s historic vote, Santa Barbara’s statehouse representatives — both liberal, progressive, environment-minded Democrats — found themselves on opposite sides. State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, now entering her 11th year in office, voted in favor of the governor’s package; Assemblymember Monique Limón, now approaching her seventh month in office, voted against.
Both support cap-and-trade as a general approach to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions; both expressed serious misgivings with the bill. “I had to ask myself, is this bill better than nothing at all,” explained Jackson. “And the answer was yes. We can’t let our current plan just expire, which it would in two years if we didn’t do anything.” For Jackson, President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Accord earlier this year gave Monday’s vote a sense of great global urgency. “The world is watching us,” she said. “What is California going to do? Our leadership on climate change is more important than ever.”