According to the Sacramento Bee, California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants the state to make significant funding in electric cars as part of his state budget proposal.
In a speech on Wednesday, the governor highlighted a portion of his climate change-related budget as state lawmakers started debating how to proceed with the governor’s plan.
Ford’s Silicon Valley Research and Innovation Center was the setting for Newsom’s thank-you to the manufacturer and others for taking the next step toward zero-emissions transportation.
“We’re on a mission to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles,” said Wendy Zhao, Ford Pro Charging’s director of business strategy.
The governor wants the state to spend $10 billion over the next five years to invest in electric vehicles. It includes money to acquire trucks and buses, charging stations, and money to assist low-income purchasers in purchasing the vehicles.
Legislators had authorized almost $4 billion for this purpose last year, but Newsom demands an extra $6 billion in funding.
A component of the governor’s $37.6 billion overall projected climate action budget, the plan aims to reduce the state’s dependency on oil and gas by reducing its reliance on fossil fuels.
According to Governor Gavin Newsom, “California is on the cutting edge when it comes to climate change and severe weather, but we’re also on the cutting edge when it comes to innovation, leading-edge when it comes to addressing these worries not just in this nation, but in this world.”
The State Assembly Budget Committee considered the governor’s entire spending proposal in its first hearing, which took place only hours before the event on Wednesday.
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According to Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, “the income flowing into Sacramento is not our money; it is the money earned by industrious Californians.” With the investments we are making, we need to guarantee that there are concrete returns that we can demonstrate.”
According to the independent Legislative Analyst’s Office, legislators should concentrate their efforts on providing some supervision over the already significant expenditures made last year, such as those relating to global climate change.
In the words of California Legislative Analyst Gabe Patek, “We urge that the Legislature exercise caution when establishing new programs or considerably expanding current ones.” On Wednesday, the committee did not take any formal action.