California Justice Department attorneys pushed a federal judge Tuesday to reject an industry motion that would immediately halt the state’s nation-leading climate disclosure laws, arguing that the rules have not been implemented and are not placing a burden on businesses.
Why it matters: The hearing comes on the same day that the California Air Resources Board was supposed to finalize rules implementing SB 253 and SB 261. CARB Chair Liane Randolph said last week that the agency aims to finish the rules by the end of this year and did not plan to release any updates Tuesday.
The rules would create the first emissions disclosure standards in the United States and potentially offer a model for other states, after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced in March that it would stop defending a Biden-era federal disclosure law in court.
What happened: U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II of the Central District of California heard arguments from Deputy Attorney General Caitlan McLoon and lawyers representing business groups around whether SB 253 and SB 261, laws which will compel large companies operating in California to disclose their carbon footprint and climate-related financial risks, violate First Amendment rights and should be paused through a preliminary injunction while the case plays out.
