Senate forms committee to research cap-and-trade legislation 

The Senate has created an ad-hoc committee on climate initiatives, a hot-button issue that has taken the backseat to the state's record-breaking budgetary woes.

Sen. Sylvia Allen, a Republican from Snowflake, will chair the committee, which aims to delve into federal cap-and-trade legislation and its cost to Arizona and its economy.

The committee will meet on June 8 and June 22.

"With Arizona's economy struggling and many employers just hanging on, it is important to inform our citizens of the ramifications of this cap-and-trade tax legislation to their utility and fuel costs," Allen wrote in a press release. "Consumers would see a rising cost in all goods due to the fact that everything produced takes energy. The public needs to know that the costs to businesses for more energy would also be passed on to them."

Allen cited a report that says the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, whose primary aim is to limit greenhouse gas emissions, would lead to a "substantial and long-term net reduction in total labor earnings and employment" even after accounting for green jobs.  

That analysis, prepared by the consulting firm CRA International, projects that the federal legislation would result in a net reduction of millions of jobs through the years that the policy is in place.