SAN FRANCISCO, July 8 (Xinhua) -- A California assemblyman from San Francisco on Monday unveiled a bill that would drastically reform the state's rebate program to stimulate sales of more electrical vehicles in an effort to fight climate change.
Assemblyman Phil Ting, who represents the 19th Assembly District that encompasses western San Francisco and northern San Mateo County said his bill will "drastically reform CA's existing rebate program for clean cars."
"40% of GHG (green house gas) emissions stem from transportation. We need bigger incentives now to get more ZEVs (zero emission vehicles) on the road & slow our climate crisis," he twitted Monday.
Ting's bill would give customers greater incentives to buy ZEVs because they could get more rebates under a new rebate program, with the amount possibly increasing from the current flat rate of 2,500 U.S. dollars to 7,500 dollars.
He said California state needs to boost the incentives if it is serious about combating climate change.
Ting, who is also the chair of the California Assembly Budget Committee, said "clean cars, clean freight and better public transportation are the solution" when he was responding in an earlier tweet Monday to a media report that Southern California has seen a resurgence in dirtier air due to transportation.
Ting's proposed legislation is expected to remove customers from the dreaded waiting list to get rebates under the existing rebate program due to insufficient state funding for ZEVs sales.
With more state funds for the ZEVs rebate program, Ting hopes Californians will be more willing to invest in e-vehicles, which discharge less or zero GHG emissions.
"We want 1.5 million clean cars on the road by 2025," Ting said.
California has set a goal of cutting overall emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
Former California Governor Jerry Brown expressed hope last year that five million zero emission vehicles could hit the road in 12 years.
