California Climate Law a Show of ‘Arrogance,’ Ex-SEC Chair Says

California was “absurd” to issue corporate emissions reporting requirements with national and international implications, instead of solely working on issues that only affect the state, like highway repairs, former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said Wednesday.

The state wasn’t “focusing on its own knitting” with its first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas emissions disclosure law in 2023, said Clayton, who led the Securities and Exchange Commission during the first Trump administration. The US Chamber of Commerce and other business groups are challenging the statute in federal court.

“The fact that it’s going to unilaterally try to dictate climate policy across financial markets nationally and ...