Here was my Thursday:  two kids with fevers, the water heater went out, my husband is out of town and I nearly got a concussion when I knocked my head on a header board in our basement.  I’ve been grumpy all day (I’m writing Friday’s commentary on Thursday night) but it is not because of these personal problems…it’s a Sacramento problem and his name is Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

The rap on the governor has always been that he’s a Chamber of Commerce Republican: socially more liberal than the rank-and-file party members, but rock solid on the economy and job-killing legislation. 

Well, here’s what the Chamber of Commerce had to say about the governor’s deal with the Democrats on the global warming bill:

"The California-only, mandatory climate change regulations that will emanate from AB 32 (Núñez; D-Los Angeles/Pavley; D-Agoura Hills), will have severe, long-term consequences for the state’s economy and consumers and do virtually nothing to improve the global environment. The rush to push the legislation through the process with only hours left in the session despite serious flaws and major shortcomings that will impact the state negatively for years to come is an irresponsible way to implement public policy.

"AB 32 will drive good companies and good jobs out of California to states or countries that do not have similar restrictions on businesses. It will trigger significant increases in consumer and business costs for things such as electricity and fuel. And it will do next to nothing to affect emissions on a global scale so long as countries such as and continue their sky-rocketing emissions growth."

In case you missed is:  AB 32 will have SEVERE, LONG-TERM consequences for the state’s economy…and do VIRTUALLY NOTHING to improve the global environment.  So much for our Chamber of Commerce Republican governor.

Schwarzenegger was in a great position to veto the bill the Democrats wanted to send him.  He could have let them pass their overreaching bill and then blocked it with a veto message saying that he wanted to sign the bill but that there were major flaws in the way the program was created.  He should have held out for a bill next year which took a market-based approach and kept the control of the program within the Executive Branch. 

**There is more – click the link**

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 1st, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.