A bill that sets a legally binding 2050 net-zero emissions target for Rhode Island is headed to Gov. Daniel McKee for his signature.

The House of Representatives passed the Act on Climate (House Bill 5445A) 53-22 on Tuesday, following Senate passage of an identical bill (Senate Bill 87A) last week.

The bill updates the state’s emission-reduction targets to 45% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% by 2040. The state’s Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council would be directed under the law to create plans to reduce emissions and coordinate them through state agencies. The law would further authorize residents or entities to sue the state if it is not fulfilling any part of its duties as laid out in the act.

Representatives from both sides of the aisle introduced a flurry of amendments to address concerns about the bill’s language governing the climate council’s broad regulatory authority and the right to sue. None of them were passed during a nearly four-hour debate.

House Minority Leader Blake Filippi (R) introduced an amendment to ensure that all plans created by the climate council would be returned to the legislature, which would consider the plans’ merits and pass laws accordingly.

He said it was “legally questionable” whether the legislature could delegate broad regulatory power to the executive branch via the climate council to be used to regulate the actions of residents.

“That’s our job,” he said. “It’s our responsibility.”

House Majority Leader Rep. Christopher Blazejewski (D) argued that the amendment was “untethered from reality.”

“We pass laws, and then the administration promulgates regulations through a public process called the Administrative Procedures Act,” he said. “It happens all the time.”

Rep. Patricia Morgan (R) introduced an amendment to remove the right-to-sue clause.

Giving anyone in the state the ability to sue would be “financially crushing,” Morgan said. “This is the mechanism by which, even if it’s not possible to meet the goals of the plan, the people who live in the state will pay.”

Deputy Majority Leader Jason Knight (D) argued against the amendment, saying that the right of enforcement only applies to whether the state fulfilled the duties required under the law. Nobody, he said, can sue for damages or because they wish the council’s plans were different.

Equity Concerns

The bill includes directives that the climate council’s plan will ensure an equitable transition to compliance for environmental justice communities.

Rep. Anastasia Williams (D) said she could not support the language of the bill and would not vote in favor of passage. She said that language directing the council to “identify” support for workers and “provide” for the development of programs in a manner that addresses inequity is no longer appropriate.

“For years … this body has been making plans and studies to ‘identify,’” Williams said. “We don’t need to do that anymore.”

She said she was standing up to represent the people who have been oppressed in the state.

“If you expect me to vote on this bill the way it’s written without making sure that it’s mandated that we will be part of the plan, not just be identified in the plan, I’m not,” she said.

There were no amendments that sought to change the equity language of the bill.