Opponents of California Climate Change Law Submit 800,000 Signatures for November Ballot Proposition. By Paul Rogers, Mercury News, May 3, 2010. "Setting up what is expected to be a multimillion-dollar political battle between oil companies and Silicon Valley tech leaders, opponents of California's landmark global warming law turned in about 800,000 signatures Monday for a November ballot measure to suspend the law. Opponents of the law, known as AB 32, say it will cost California jobs during a bad economy by increasing the price for fuels such as gasoline, and electricity bills. Supporters say the law -- the latest example of California leading the rest of the nation on environmental reform -- already is helping the state's green tech and renewable energy industries by driving demand for cleaner energy. AB 32 was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. It requires that by 2020, California's emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases be reduced to 1990 levels, a drop of about 25%. Its main provisions take effect Jan. 1, 2012.
"Supporters of the campaign include the California Republican Party, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the California Manufacturers & Technology Association. Major funding so far has come from oil companies, Valero and Tesoro, both with operations in California and headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, and Occidental Petroleum, in Los Angeles. Technology leaders said Monday that they expect large Silicon Valley firms to help defeat the measure. 'We and our membership will vigorously oppose efforts by out-of-state Texas oil companies to weaken our economy and gut our environmental laws for their own profit,' said Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which represents major tech companies. Among the opponents of the measure so far are Google, Applied Materials, Solaria, Serious Materials, the Sierra Club and the League of Women Voters."
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