"When she first came to work in California during the Trump era, Lauren Sanchez says, the state’s climate budget was typically a few billion dollars a year, with much of that money automatically going to a couple of high-profile projects, including the bullet train through the Central Valley. That left climate policymakers and advocates fighting over a few hundred million dollars.

How times have changed. The latest budget proposal, unveiled this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom, includes $22 billion in new climate funding. It also allocates money from last year’s budget, for a total of $37 billion in climate spending over six years.

Sanchez, Newsom’s senior climate advisor, says it’s more than the large dollar figures that make this year’s budget different."

Sammy Roth reports for the Los Angeles Times January 13, 2022. [2]