SACRAMENTO (CN) - Two California climate change bills calling for a 50 percent reduction in vehicle fuel use and expansion of renewable energy are in limbo, facing holdouts by moderate Democrats days before a critical deadline.
Despite support from Gov. Jerry Brown and a host of Washington officials, moderate Democrats are withholding support of the bills written by Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de Leon.
The Democratic holdouts, mainly representing smaller Central Valley economic districts, say the bills will decimate agriculture, which depends on petroleum.
The proposed fuel cuts also ignited the oil lobby, which paid for commercials calling the bills the "California Gas Restriction Act of 2015," and setting the scene for a small town versus big city environmental squabble.
Senate Bill 350 mandates a 50 percent cut in fuel use by 2030 and a 50 percent increase in the state's use of renewable energy. The "Climate Leadership Bills" breezed through the state Senate and three Assembly committees and await a full Assembly vote this week.
Democrats control 65 percent of the Assembly but an estimated 20 moderate Democrats have not committed to the bills and could combine with Republicans to crash de Leon's ambitious legislation.
If passed, the bills would send a message to the world that California is committed to leading the nation in sustainable energy, de Leon said.
"This package of bills represents the most far reaching effort to fight climate change in the history of our nation," De Leon in June.
Environmental reform has been a major focus for the governor this year, including a recent trip to the Vatican where he discussed climate change with the Pope. Brown also hosted a group of international leaders at the Capitol in May, arranging a non-binding pact aimed at drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Brown and de Leon will represent California at the United Nations climate change conference in Paris this fall and highlight the state's greenhouse gases reduction plan.
Last week lawmakers sent Brown a bill requiring the state to divest its public pension funds from coal companies. New York and Massachusetts are considering similar bills. Norway recently voted to divest $880 billion in coal investments.
As the oil industry barrages Californians with warnings about gas rationing and mileage limits for drivers if the bills pass, polls show residents support increased climate change reform.
A recent poll from the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank, found 73 percent of adults support petroleum reduction laws, and 62 percent feel global warming is already having an impact on the state's climate.
Brown and California lawmakers have found an improbable ally in the Catholic Church and Pope Francis. This summer the Pope issued a 192-page climate change action plan , imploring church leaders to back environmental issues. The Pope's call to action spurred California Catholic leaders into voicing support for the proposed bills last week in hopes of jolting the moderate Democrats.
Critics of the bills claim the 50 percent fuel cuts are a pipe dream and would decimate industry, particularly agriculture and transportation. Opponents are also concerned about giving the California Air Resources Board, an unelected state agency, increased authority to enforce the stiff emissions and fuel cuts.