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Two Democratic Assemblymembers got the ball rolling on settling the future of California’s cap-and-trade program by introducing A.B. 151 yesterday. The bill would authorize the California Air Resources Board “to utilize a market-based compliance mechanism” to reduce greenhouse gases after 2020, when the current Global Warming Solutions Act expires.

There has been controversy about whether that first act, passed in 2006, amounted to an unauthorized tax, since it involved the collection of money by the state. The matter has not been settled by the courts, and Governor Jerry Brown has stated it is his intention to pass a post-2020 extension by at least a two-thirds vote so the matter won’t come up again.