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Senate Democrats say redirecting Climate Commitment Act funds to the general fund would break voter expectations
Summary
Democratic leaders warned that sweeping Climate Commitment Act (CCA) investments into the general fund to pay for other items would contradict what voters approved; the proposal’s authors described CCA uses as an "eligible use," not a commitment, and speakers debated the scale of funds that could be freed.
Questioners raised a proposal reported by Senate Republicans to redirect Climate Commitment Act (CCA) dollars to free capacity in the general fund, which some said could be used to cover the Working Families Tax Credit. Speaker 8 said, "It was never stated that it would do that. It was stated that that was an eligible use," and warned that supplanting clean-air, water, forest-health and wildfire-prevention investments would not uphold the intent of voters who approved CCA-related measures.
Speaker 1 said the caucus increased K–12 and special-education funding in the Senate and argued that Democratic budgets express the state's values — protecting the environment and supporting public servants — and that balancing the budget by cutting public employees' compensation would be unacceptable.
Speakers discussed figures in rough terms: questioners and speakers referred to amounts that could be "freed up" by redirecting CCA funds; figures cited in the press exchange were not stated precisely in the transcript and are treated here as estimates. Speakers said they will not plan a budget that eliminates the dedicated environmental investments funded through CCA and emphasized that using those dollars to supplant those investments would not reflect voters' expectations. The press conference included no formal budget votes.
