Thursday, July 11, 2002

posted 7/11/2002 04:53:00 PM by Daniel   1 comments

UPDATE #2:

Davis' spokesman has announced that the Governor will sign AB 1493 on July 22nd. Opponents are being publicly non-committal about their intentions to mount a referendum. Supporters are trying to convince themselves it won't happen. And, to be fair, there's still a chance it might not. Opponents could conceivably decide it's cheaper to fight in the courts than to finance a referendum. Maybe the Republican pressure to unbottle the bill and force it onto the Governor's desk was merely posturing and bluff.

But if so, why the continuing stall to July 22nd?

I foresee a lot more Cal Worthington commercials in California's near future.

UPDATE:

Well, it only took one day, not my estimated two weeks [see yesterday's post], for the Democrats to cave. According to this report, Republican Assemblyman Bill Campbell just told the John & Ken radio talk show (KFI AM 640) that they've forced AB 1493 to be sent to the Governor's desk. The pieces are falling into place for a referendum on this November's ballot.

It will be one heck of a war. On the one side you'll have every Hollywood star and liberal organization battling to approve AB 1493 as a symbolic step towards halting global warming. On the other side you'll have auto manufacturers and dealers and labor unions and business associations and conservative organizations painting AB 1493 as an economy-killer which will strip transportation choices from consumers just to make an empty gesture.

Which will voters in the liberal State of California pick: higher gas prices or higher CO2 levels? saving the Earth or saving their SUVs? Gray Davis or Cal Worthington? [of the nostalgically famous "Cal Worthington Ford" commercials, for those of you not in the know]

Four months and $50 million dollars from now, my guess is that AB 1493 crashes and burns.