Policy regime change and environmental bill submission in China: evidence from provincial panel data (1992–2016)

Abstract Environmental legislation is a key component of environmental governance. However, there is limited research on environmental law-making by legislators in non-Western countries in general and in authoritarian countries in particular. I develop a policy regime account of climate change legislation and use a rare source of data on environmental bills (N = 253,882) from Chinese deputies to narrow this knowledge gap. I discuss stakeholders, institutions, and discourse on policy purpose and examine three climate policy regimes in China for the period of 1992–2016. I argue that local leaders comply with the new version and related policy initiatives when a new leader comes to power in China, and deputies submit environmental bills in relation to the changing local policy priorities. Data analyses show the extent of environmental bill submissions and the changing roles of state intervention and citizen activism in environmental bill submissions in the three climate policy regimes in China.