Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 2 approves broad budget packages and withholds GGRF funding pending CARB action

The Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and Energy approved a series of grouped staff recommendations across a vote-only calendar and the chair said the Senate will withhold all Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) appropriations until conditions tied to California Air Resources Board (CARB) action are satisfied.

Senator Choi moved to approve an initial set of items; after a roll call the chair announced, "Motion is approved with a vote of 4 0," releasing that set of budget items from the subcommittee. Later, Senator McNerney moved approval of a second grouped set of items; the chair recorded that motion "is approved for the vote of 3 to 1," with Senator Choi recorded as voting no on that group.

The chair cautioned the committee that CARB was meeting to consider amendments to the cap-and-invest program and said the subcommittee remained "concerned about the potential implications of the proposed amendments." The chair argued the Senate budget plan will withhold all GGRF appropriations, including continuous appropriations, "until specified conditions are met," asserting that the legislature needs assurances that previously negotiated priorities for transit, affordable housing, air quality and safe drinking water will not be cut.

In part B of the calendar, Senator Choi moved approval of another group of issues (including items 2–5, 8, 10–13, 16, 22, 31, 32, 35, 37 and related items). The roll was taken and the chair announced the motion was "approved on a 4 to 0 vote." Additional grouped votes were moved and approved in later rounds; the record contains a number of grouped item lists and chair announcements confirming approval and releasing those items from the subcommittee.

The subcommittee chair closed the hearing by thanking public participants and staff from the Legislative Analyst's Office and the Department of Finance, inviting anyone who had not testified to submit written comments to the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, and adjourning the hearing.

Notes on the transcript and tallying: several roll-call announcements in the transcript include inconsistent or unclear phrasing for tallies (for example, a line reads "on a vote of 3 2 0" in the record). Where a clear tally was stated (for example, "4 0" and "3 to 1"), this article reports those results as announced by the chair; where the transcript is ambiguous, the committee's official minutes or clerk's roll call should be consulted for certified results.