Californians Need Jobs, Not More Unemployment and Sky-High Energy Bills -- Support Prop. 23Remember all the doom and gloom about rising seas and the end of the Earth because of global warming? In a wonderful kind of way it seems "so yesterday". Back then, environmentalists captured the hearts of the mainstream press with their apocalyptic warning of man-made climate Armageddon. But then came a very swift unraveling. First was the revelation that climate scientists were fudging data and lying to the media and the public. Shortly after, the global warming political death spiral went into hyper-drive. The public learned that the biggest liars of the "climategate" scandal were making a darn good living off the lies. Now, even the liberals in Congress are backing down. Unfortunately for California, the climate mania is still a clear and present danger. At the height of the panic in 2006, former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) authored and passed AB 32, California's "Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006". It granted extreme powers to a government agency, the California Air Resources Board, to reduce California's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. If nothing is done, no aspect of our lives will be off limits to this agency. Economists project increased costs to housing, transportation, natural gas, electricity, and food if AB 32 is allowed to be implemented. The California Chamber of Commerce says it will cost California small businesses $49,691 per year, significantly more than estimates by the Air Resources Board. It is never a good time to embrace radical environmentalism, but doing so now would be particularly harsh. Many out of work Californians are having trouble buying food. The people desperately need a growing economy that produces jobs. Higher costs and Himalaya-levels of regulation are poison to the economy when it needs medicine -- or at the very least, a break from big government follies. Proposition 23 is a modest proposal to delay the implementation of AB 32. While modest, it is perhaps the most important measure on the November ballot. Assemblyman Dan Logue is the author of Proposition 23. Logue's the jobs guy who's focused on balancing the budget by putting people back to work instead of raising taxes. With millions of Californians unemployed, the state's economy can't sustain AB 32's enormous costs and additional job losses. Please join me in voting "yes" on Proposition 23. Barbara Alby, of Sacramento, became Acting Board Member for the Second Equalization District in March, 2010. Prior to becoming Acting Member, she served as the Chief Deputy to Second District Board Member Bill Leonard. She also served in the State Assembly from 1993 to 1998, representing the Sacramento area. |
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