A resource on climate policy
Schwarzenegger launches partnership to help legislators pass green laws.
Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is launching a new partnership with a nationwide network of green-minded state lawmakers to share ideas for environmental legislation.
The effort comes as Schwarzenegger has said he hopes states continue to push efforts to fight climate change even though President Trump is withdrawing the country from the Paris agreement.
“America did not drop out of the Paris agreement,” Schwarzenegger said during a speech Friday at the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators conference in Cambridge, Mass. “One man dropped out of the Paris agreement.”
The partnership showcases templates for climate legislation, including several from California, and asks lawmakers to submit new ideas.
“You don’t need [the federal government] to babysit you,” Schwarzenegger said. “You can do it yourself.”
Bonnie Reiss, the global director of the Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy at the University of Southern California, said the former governor has been concerned about the Trump administration’s broad efforts to roll back environmental legislation.
“He really felt the need to double down,” she said.
Reiss said the partnership should make it easier to find replicable ideas.
“This is one-stop shopping,” she said. “There isn’t a place for this right now.”