Bridge Builders Award
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez for collaborating across party lines to enact a bipartisan environmental agenda that disregarded the political maneuvering and biased criticism that often stalls progress and that will ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state.
When an executive leader is of the opposing political party to their State Assembly legislative majority, there will always be differing opinions on a variety of issues and problem-solving approaches. However, in the State of California under the leadership of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Speaker Fabian Núñez, both the legislature and the executive office have come together under the common goal of improving the environmental impact of their residents and industry.
The two leaders did not begin as close friends, but over time by being open to conversations and spending time together, they were able to build a relationship that has allowed them groundbreaking bipartisan collaboration. While not without snags and rocky moments, this relationship and their negotiations have resulted in the landmark bipartisan environmental legislation of Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, that has placed California in the international spotlight as the first state in the U.S. to require industries to lower greenhouse gas emissions and as an international model for ‘going green.’
This bill was authored by Speaker Núñez, Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata as a measure to help counteract Global Warming at the state level. The bill went through numerous edits — over 30 drafts in the last two weeks before its passing alone — with tough negotiations on both sides related to the Governor’s interest in the creation of an emission credits market and interest in allowing him to delay the deadline for up to one year in the event of natural disasters. However, both leaders recognized that the value of the overall goal was too important to let the bill not pass because of a lack of compromise on either side. As a result, AB 32 was passed in September of 2006 with the goals of limiting the state’s global warming emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, instituting a mandatory emissions reporting system to monitor compliance, and allowing for the creation of a cap and trade system that lets companies buy and sell emission credits in order to reach industry-wide caps on greenhouse gas emissions.
Through both the Governor and Speaker’s dedication to reducing greenhouse gases and their strong relationship that allowed for effective communication through negotiation process, they have been able to encourage both of their parties to work together on an issue that faces all people, not just in the State of California, but around the entire globe.