Michael Wara and I have a guest post at the UC Legal Planet website on the thinking behind SB 775. We discuss the legal, economic, and political constraints affecting state climate policy and how these constraints are reflected in the SB 775 market design:
A strong carbon pricing policy is essential for achieving California’s ambitious climate target for 2030. In order to achieve a 2/3 vote to extend cap-and-trade, however, several changes to the current market design will be necessary. SB 775 is the first serious attempt to address the challenge of extending carbon pricing after 2020 and continues to be the only proposal that offers a solution to the real-world constraints facing legislators today.