Suit Seeks to Ban CARB’s Emission Reporting Mandate

A business coalition is suing to halt California’s forthcoming edict that companies in and out of the state report greenhouse gas emissions. 

The lawsuit contends the California Air Resources Board (CARB) violated the First Amendment by unconstitutionally compelling speech, as well as the Clean Air Act by attempting to regulate issues outside of the state in the Jan. 30 filing. 

The coalition behind the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the California Chamber of Commerce, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Los Angeles County Business Federation, the Central Valley Business Federation and the Western Growers Association. 

Specifically at issue are two bills signed into law in October 2023: Senate bills 253 and 261. These bills “impermissibly compel thousands of businesses to make costly, burdensome, and politically fraught statements about ‘their operations, not just in California, but around the world,’... in order to stigmatize those companies and shape their behavior,” the document reads. 

“Plaintiffs support policies that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions as much and as quickly as reasonably possible,” but “policies must be informed by the best science, a careful analysis of available alternatives, and attention to legal rights and requirements,” according to the text.