California Marks 20 Years of AB 32 Climate Law at Long Beach Summit
The anniversary event highlights how a state law, not federal legislation, has become the dominant framework for U.S. Subnational climate policy, with implications for federal-state regulatory...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared together on October 13 at the 2026 California Economic Summit in Long Beach to mark the 20th anniversary of the California Global Warming Solutions Act, commonly known as AB 32, according to a report by the New York Post dated October 14, 2026.
Schwarzenegger signed AB 32 into law in 2006. The statute required California to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, establishing the first economy-wide mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions by any U.S. State, according to the California Air Resources Board's official legislative summary.
The 2026 California Economic Summit ran from October 13 through October 15 at the Long Beach Convention Center, according to the same report. Newsom and Schwarzenegger participated in what organizers described as a fireside chat format to discuss the law's two-decade record.
AB 32 created the legal authority for California's cap-and-trade program, which the California Air Resources Board administers. Under that program, covered entities, including power plants and industrial facilities emitting more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, must hold allowances equal to their emissions, according to CARB's program documentation.
California's cap-and-trade program generated approximately 4.5 billion dollars in auction proceeds between 2013 and 2023, according to the California Climate Investments annual report published by CARB. Those funds are allocated through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to programs including affordable housing near transit, zero-emission vehicle incentives, and urban forestry, per the same document.
The federal government does not operate an equivalent national cap-and-trade system. Congress has debated but not enacted a federal carbon pricing mechanism in multiple legislative sessions. The absence of federal action has made California's AB 32 framework the functional baseline for state-level climate regulation, with 13 states and the District of Columbia linking or aligning portions of their programs to California standards, according to the U.S. Climate Alliance membership data.
The federal-state tension over emissions regulation has produced active litigation. The Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, affirmed in Massachusetts v. EPA (2007) by the U.S. Supreme Court, has been the subject of subsequent legal challenges, including West Virginia v. EPA (2022), in which the Court limited EPA's authority to mandate fuel-switching at power plants under the major questions doctrine.
California has separately maintained a waiver under Section 177 of the Clean Air Act allowing it to set vehicle emissions standards stricter than federal minimums. The Trump administration moved to revoke that waiver in 2019; the Biden administration restored it in 2022. As of October 2026, the current administration's position on California's waiver status is subject to ongoing regulatory proceedings at EPA, the status of which would be documented in the Federal Register.
The Long Beach event occurred as California faces a separate fiscal and regulatory question: the state's 2025 to 2026 budget projected cap-and-trade revenues of approximately 3.9 billion dollars, according to the California Department of Finance's enacted budget summary. A sustained decline in allowance auction prices, which have fluctuated between 20 dollars and 40 dollars per metric ton since 2021 according to CARB quarterly auction data, could reduce that revenue projection.
The political context of the Newsom-Schwarzenegger appearance is notable because Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and Newsom, a Democrat, represent cross-party alignment on state climate regulation that has not consistently translated to the federal level. Schwarzenegger has not held elected office since leaving the governorship in January 2011. Newsom is serving his second term as California's governor.
What remains unknown is the specific policy commitments, if any, announced at the Long Beach Summit beyond the commemorative discussion. A full transcript or official readout of the fireside chat, if published by the California Governor's Office or the California Economic Summit organizers, would provide that detail. The California Governor's Office press release archive and the summit's official proceedings would be the documents to consult.