Davis administration officials say California's move could help to set new national and international priorities in the fight against global warming.

"I believe that Washington's dropped the ball in cleaning up carbon pollution gasses that trap and change our climate," Winston Hickcox, secretary of the state's Environmental Protection Administration, said last week.

"California has a tradition of environmental sensibility and common sense safeguards and this bill represents another example of California showing leadership," he said.

Democrats across the country have attacked the Bush administration for failing to establish a national policy to combat global warming, and environmental groups reacted with dismay when the federal government moved in April to reject a proposed proposed 50 percent boost in fuel efficiency for gas-guzzling cars and SUVs.

In California - a Democratic stronghold with a strong record of environmental regulation - politicians moved to take the matter into their own hands, passing the new emissions bill by a narrow 41 to 30 vote in the state assembly this month.

The bill, which has been fiercely opposed by the auto industry, requires the state's Air Resources Board to adopt regulations that would achieve "the maximum feasible reduction" in emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, emitted by cars and light-duty trucks, the category that includes SUVs.

The regulations, which should be completed by 2005, would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2006. The amended version of the bill also gives automakers until 2009 to come up with technological changes or modifications to comply with the new standards.

Auto industry groups have criticized the bill as a "driving tax" designed to put a wedge between Californians and their beloved SUVs and pickup trucks - which now account for some 47 percent of passenger vehicles sold in the state, a percentage that has tripled over the last 30 years.

"The danger is that Californians may lose the choice to buy the vehicles they need for their families and work while Arizonans and Nevadans and Oregonians will still have that choice," said Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

"This gives unelected bureaucrats a blank check to design the cars that Californians will drive."

A NUDGE FOR INNOVATION

California officials say the bill is simply designed to nudge the automobile industry into devising vehicles which produce less of the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses commonly blamed for global warming.

"Many of these technologies would work whether its on a European mini car or its on the largest SUV here," said Tom Cackette, the Air Resources Board's chief deputy executive officer.

California officials concede that even if the state is successful in legislating a reduction in vehicular greenhouse gas emissions, that alone will do little to stop the overall rise in world temperatures.

While the United States contributes roughly 25 percent of the global greenhouse gasses, California - long a national leader in tough air pollution regulations - is not among the top offenders.

Nevertheless, they say that by moving to cut back on automobile greenhouse emissions, California may be setting an example for other states and nations to follow.

California, alone among U.S. states, has the ability to impose its own air quality standards because its Air Resources Board was established before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was formed under the Clean Air Act of 1970.