California climate bills head to Governor— will he sign? [reposted]

Two far-reaching California climate bills, together the “Climate Accountability Package,” have passed in the California legislature and are headed to Governor Gavin Newsom for a final decision. If signed into law, Senate Bill 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, would mandate disclosure of GHG emissions data—Scopes 1, 2 and 3—by all U.S. business entities (public or private) with total annual revenues in excess of a billion dollars that “do business in California.” SB 253 has been estimated to apply to about 5,300 companies. Final amendments to the companion bill, SB261, Greenhouse gases: climate-related financial risk, passed in the California legislature yesterday.  SB 261, with a lower reporting threshold of total annual revenues in excess of $500 million, would require subject companies to prepare reports disclosing their climate-related financial risk, in accordance with TCFD framework, and describing their measures adopted to reduce and adapt to that risk.  SB 261 has been estimated to apply to over 10,000 companies. While there has been substantial opposition to these bills, Bloomberg has reported that “[c]orporate support for the legislation has been growing this year. More than a dozen companies have submitted a letter to lawmakers in support of SB 253” and another dozen wrote in support of SB 261, including, in both cases, some very familiar names. Will the Governor sign these bills into law? Newsom has not yet weighed in. According to the NYT, historically, Newsom “has championed aggressive new climate measures,” but, on SB 253, he has been “uncharacteristically quiet,” perhaps given that his “administration’s finance department issued an analysis in July that opposed the emissions reporting legislation.” Newsom has until October 14 to sign or veto the bills. If he does neither, the measures will become law automatically.