California will extend a key climate program under a bill state lawmakers passed Saturday, sending the measure to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has championed it as a crucial tool to respond to the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks.

The Democrat-dominated legislature voted to reauthorize the state's cap-and-trade program, which is set to expire after 2030. Then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, signed a law authorizing the program in 2006, and it launched in 2013.

The program sets a declining limit on total planet-warming emissions in the state from major polluters. Companies must reduce their emissions, buy allowances from the state or other businesses, or fund projects aimed at offsetting their emissions.

Money the state receives from the sales funds climate-change mitigation, affordable housing and transportation projects, as well as utility bill credits for Californians.

The proposal would reauthorize the program through 2045, better align the declining cap on emissions with the state's climate targets and potentially boost carbon-removal projects.

It would also change the name to “cap and invest" to emphasize its funding of climate programs.

GOP lawmakers criticized the program, saying it would make living in California more expensive.

“Cap and trade has become cap and tax,” said James Gallagher, the Assembly Republican minority leader. “It’s going to raise everybody’s costs.”

State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, (D), called cap and tax the "cornerstone of our climate strategy, balancing ambition with affordability."