Their reelection is the driving the force.
Via Daily Caller:
California Democrats warn Gov. Jerry Brown not to push for a cap and trade program so soon after vulnerable state legislators passed a highly contentious gas tax increase April.
Brown’s full-throated push to shoehorn a cap and trade program requiring companies to purchase permits before releasing greenhouse gasses is causing Democrats in the state to recoil. They worry that the governor’s efforts could thrust already vulnerable lawmakers out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Kip Lipper, an environmental advisor for Senate leadership wrote in an email Thursday that there were “no plans to take up a cap and trade reauthorization bill anytime soon.”
Lipper noted that lawmakers are “gas tax weary” about the possibility of shoving through another vote so quickly after their unpopular move to raise the state’s gas tax for road repairs.
Brown’s office remains defiant. He wants to move quickly on the proposal, and has shown a willingness to paint opponents of both the gas tax increase and cap and trade as supporters of Republican President Donald Trump.