New York Focus
By Colin Kinniburgh
For climate activists, New York’s 2021 legislative session was a bitter disappointment. Democrats failed to pass any major new climate laws, shrugging off bills that would have provided funding to meet the state’s emission targets, among others.
But the state legislature did pass at least one climate law, which has flown largely under the radar. Known as the Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Leadership Act (LECCLA), the legislation requires New York to set an emissions standard for concrete used in public works.
If Governor Kathy Hochul signs the bill into law, New York will become one of the first states in the country to start cleaning up this highly polluting sector of the economy...
In California, State Senator Josh Becker is leading the push for two bills seeking to achieve the same broad goals. The first, SB 596, would require the state to cut emissions from cement production 40 percent by 2035. This is what Becker calls the “regulatory push,” to be matched by a “demand pull” in the form of procurement legislation — specifically, SB 778, which would extend the state’s 2017 Buy Clean law to concrete.
Becker is optimistic that the first of the bills could pass by this Friday, when California’s legislative session ends, while the second will likely get postponed until next year. [Update: A few hours after this article published, California’s legislature passed SB 596.]