Committee kills cap-and-trade prevention, cost estimate bills

By WES SANDER
Capital Press

Two bills by Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, that sought to ease regulatory impacts have failed in committee.

Under current state law, agencies must outline economic impacts to businesses before implementing a regulation. Dutton's SB960 would require the state Air Resources Board to take its cost estimate to the Office of Administrative Law for an outside analysis.

The California Chamber of Commerce, California League of Food Processors and industry groups support the bill. The committee granted it reconsideration, a routine procedure.

The trade association Western Growers said the bill can help farmers lighten compliance costs and thus hire more workers while competing more effectively with exporting countries that impose looser restrictions.

Elastic prices, the group says, prevent producers from passing regulatory cost to consumers.

"If farming is to remain viable in California in the long term, the cumulative effects of all state regulations need to be examined and considered," said Western Growers CEO Tom Nassif in a statement.

Western Growers cites a study by researchers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, California, that says producers saw a 69 percent increase in their cost of regulatory compliance from 1999 to 2004. Fees in three regulatory areas -- air quality, chemical use and workers compensation -- more than doubled in that time, according to the study.

The committee also killed Dutton's SB1120, which sought to prevent the state from implementing a cap-and-trade system for regulating carbon emissions until a national or regional program appears. It likewise gets a second chance before the committee.

Both bills failed on party-line, 2-4 votes by the committee on April 5.