The head of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is resigning before her term is set to expire next year.
The CARB announced Monday that Liane Randolph is retiring at the end of September.
Driving the news: Republicans and Asm. Jasmeet Bains (D–Bakersfield) called on Randolph to resign earlier this year after she told state lawmakers that the CARB does not assess how its regulations impact drivers.
- Randolph testified in front of the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee in May to discuss the new Low Carbon Fuel Standard program.
- She admitted to lawmakers at the time that the CARB does not consider how its regulations will raise gas prices for California drivers.
- “We don’t analyze a retail cost,” Randolph said during the hearing. She later said the CARB’s analysis “does not identify specific costs to specific consumers, partly because there is a lot of variables involved in that.”
- Bains and Republican lawmakers called for Randolph to resign shortly after the hearing.
State of play: Randolph has served as the CARB chair since 2021.
- Before joining the board, Randolph was the Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission from 2015 to 2021, the Deputy Secretary and General Counsel at the California Natural Resources Agency from 2011 to 2014 and the Chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission from 2003 to 2007.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom has named senior climate advisor Lauren Sanchez to be the next CARB chair.
- Sanchez has served as Newsom’s top climate advisor since 2021. She previously was the Senior Advisor for the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate in the Biden-Harris Administration in 2021. She also served as the Deputy Secretary for Climate Policy and Intergovernmental Relations at the California Environmental Protection Agency from 2019 to 2021 and as the International Policy Director at the CARB from 2018 to 2019.
What they’re saying: “Serving the public has been the honor of a lifetime and I am incredibly proud of everything the agency has accomplished over the last five years. I thank Governor Newsom for the opportunity, my fellow board members for their partnership, and CARB staff for their unwavering dedication to the mission of clean air and a better future for all Californians,” Randolph said.
- Bains said Tuesday, “I call on my colleagues in the State Senate to put the Governor’s next nominee on record before agreeing to confirm her. Will she follow CARB’s practice of ignoring inconvenient facts and imposing regressive costs on hardworking Californians? Or will she chart a new path to protect poor people from CARB’s worst instincts.”
