Blog: Air Quality/Climate Change

During the last legislative session (2019) Texans considered approximately 14 bills that specifically addressed climate change.  Many of these bills addressed climate change as a routine part of future strategic planning. Unfortunately, all 14 bills died in committee without formal consideration.

Although it is still early in the 2021 legislative session, there are several climate change bills under consideration and some are cause for optimism.  House Representative, Rafael Anchia, has submitted HB 1044, which proposes the creation of the Texas Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission.  The agency will study and address the impacts of climate change in Texas.  The bill details the structure of the commission and describes procedurally how the 25 person body will support the state’s effort to comply with the Paris Agreement to combat climate change.  Members of the commission will serve staggered six-year terms and represent local, state and federal agencies involved in climate change adaptation planning.

As a person who has followed climate change legislation in Texas for several years, I will be particularly interested in how Representative Anchia’s concurrent resolution, HCR 22 (Support for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Texas while expanding and diversifying the economy), does this session.  Normally about 90% of submitted concurrent resolutions are successful.  Climate change resolutions, however, seem to be the exception.  Inevitably, improving the climate is linked to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero, which must be supported by the use of alternative fuels such as wind energy, solar and other technologies.  In a state whose economy is still tied to fossil fuel consumption, that may be too much for consideration.