Bill would set car fees, rebates

Say you buy a car that coughs out a lot of greenhouse gases. Should you pay more for the privilege of polluting?

And say your neighbor buys a car that spews out far less. Should he be rewarded for helping to save the planet?

This week, the California Assembly is expected to vote on the California Clean Car Discount Act, which, if passed, would be the nation's first "feebate" law, imposing charges and granting rebates based on a vehicle's emission of carbon dioxide and other gases.

One-time registration fees of up to $2,500 would be levied on new gas guzzlers, such as Hummers, Dodge Vipers and Chevy Tahoes. Some cleaner sport utility vehicles, pickups and minivans would be exempt from any charge, while the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra and other fuel-efficient cars would get hefty rebates.

The bill, AB 493, is among a raft of measures under consideration in the Legislature and, behind the scenes, by officials at California's powerful Air Resources Board, to press the auto industry to do its part to fight global warming.

"We put 1.8 million vehicles a year on the road in California," said Assemblyman Ira Ruskin (D-Redwood City), the bill's author. "We have to find ways to get more clean cars on the road and more dirty cars off. There's no time to waste if we're to avoid the catastrophes ahead from global warming."

A previous version of the bill was narrowly defeated in the Assembly in June after seven Democrats from the Los Angeles region, under heavy lobbying from auto dealers, abstained from the vote. Strategists say supporters of the bill need five of those seven legislators if it is to pass this time.

The fence-sitters included Mike Davis (Los Angeles), Mervyn Dymally (Compton); Hector De la Torre (South Gate); Tony Mendoza (Artesia); Felipe Fuentes (Sylmar); Edward Hernandez (West Covina) and Jose Solorio (Santa Ana).

This time the measure may have a better chance. The state is reeling from the Bush administration's refusal to allow enforcement of a 2002 state law to cut carbon emissions from vehicle tailpipes by 30% in the next eight years. Unless that decision is reversed in court, overruled by federal legislation or withdrawn by the next president, those tons of emissions must be cut by other means.

Feebate laws have been enacted in Canada, Finland and France, and in the European Union overall, countries are moving to tax cars based on carbon emissions. In the United States, feebates have also been considered in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont.