Four main items were taken up in the Assembly as the Senate finished up on the budget.
A bill, SB 97 was passed to provide a moratorium on lawsuits by Attorney General Brown over greenhouse gas emissions not being factored into construction. So, for a window of time, infrastructure can be built until the regs are actually sorted out on the ill-conceived AB32, and bond dollars voted for by Californians won’t be used to settle frivolous global warming lawsuits or more studies on how much CO 2 comes from projects. That moratorium is only until the end of ’09.
SB 83, the amended health trailer bill squeaked out 54 votes, not much Rep support.
Two other bills amending the Transportation trailer bill and the General Government trailer from the original Assembly versions a month ago passed with strong bipartisan support. These amendments did improve original trailers that had only checkered Republican support.