California Leads the Way on Energy

By Cali Correspondent

On April 12, Governor Brown signed SBX12, which requires 33 percent of California electricity to come from renewable resources by December 31, 2010.  Currently only 20 percent of California energy is from renewable resources. 

This year in the President Obama’s State of the Union address, he called for Americans to invest in innovation.  He called for this moment to be our generation's potential Sputnik moment.  

With this new bill, the state of California is doing its part.  During the 90s, Californians brought us the tech revolution and the development of Silicon Valley in the Northern California.  This new bill is the opportunity to develop the green industry here and make it the new industry based in our state.  

This is great opportunity for a state with over 10% unemployment.  

There is support for this in the private sector and federal government here.  The same day SBX12 was passed, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $1.187 billion loan guarantee to support a private renewable energy project, the California Valley Solar Ranch Project, which is managed by Sunpower Corporation.  This development will create approximately 350 jobs and significantly reduce carbon emissions.

Another project in the works is the Blythe Solar Project.  It also have $2.1 billion loan guarantee to support the private energy project by Solar Millennium.  This would create approximately 1,000 construction jobs.  

Google has invested $350 million in renewable energy and energy efficiency and they are looking for new projects.  

These are just three examples of a burgeoning green energy industry and considering the bill was just passed a couple of weeks ago.  It can be the start of great things.  Although it is mandated by the laws, the private sector is the one driving the innovation.  

The Majority held Captive

By Poppy Pundit

All the major news networks are covering the federal budget battle between President Obama and Speaker Boehner and the looming government shutdown.   

On the federal level in the legislative branch, the Republicans hold a majority in the House of Representatives and the budget obviously has to be approved by the house.  There are compromises in the works, hopefully.  President Obama announced yesterday that the budget cuts have reached 73 billion, which is the amount of cuts the speaker originally requested.  But the point is the Speaker and the Republicans actually have a majority in the House of Representatives.  It makes sense that the federal government has to compromise.  

Which brings me to California....

In California, Not only do we have a Democrat Governor, but both the State Assembly and the State Senate have a Democratic majority.  

In order to pass the budget we have to a simple majority (50% plus 1).  

So the average person would ask, well then why do we have to compromise with the minority party, the Republicans....

The California budget process is no simple task.  To get a very a detailed description of the budget you can visit the California department of finance at http://www.dof.ca.gov/fisa/bag/process.htm

Here is a quick summary simplified summary.  

1. So the governor present his version of the budget by January 10 either in a speech or in the State of the State Address.  
2. Next the budget goes the to the Assembly Budget Committee and the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee.  It is adjusted and approved by the committees.  
3. Then the budget is approve by both houses of the legislature.

There are some things to note.  The budget, due to Prop 25, which was passed by voters last November, the budget needs to be passed by a simple majority and if the legislature does not pass the budget in by June 15 they lose their salary.  It also maintains that to raise taxes, the legislature has to approve the measure by supermajority (2/3 of the legislature) 

Which brings us to the current problem..... Governor brown would like to pass a budget, but it requires, extending Tax increases that are already in place on vehicles and dmv fees, etc., and for mega corporations to be treated like individuals and not be given a preferred tax rate, which they can afford.  

If the tax extensions are not passed, some necessary resources like education, health care, etc., are going to be greatly affected and reduced. When I say education, I mean k-12.  1 to 20 ratio will be a thing of the past.  We will lose the young teachers with passion.  It will mean layoffs for teachers who have had their own classroom for 5+ years.   

In order to pass governor browns plan, he needed only 2 republicans in each house to cross the aisle.  Just 4 politicians.  There are 15 Republicans in State Senate and 27 in the assembly.  There are 25 Democrats in the state senate and 52 in the state assembly.  There is a total of 120 members of the legislative branch.  This means that roughly 33% of the legislative branch is republican.  

33% is holding up the budget.  They aren’t coming up with alternatives.  They are making a list of demands that is 7 pages.  7 pages.  If these demands were so popular, why are they not demanded by the populace.  So this little third of the legislative is holding the state hostage.   

Could we have a more inefficient system where a third of the government can dictate what the budget and taxes are going to be about?  

I commend Gov. Brown for having his limits and not bowing to all the Republican demands.  I can appreciate his taking ideas directly to the people. 

It is like having to share a pizza and although there is more of your family at the dinner table you have to give your neighbor and bigger portion for fewer people because you are dividing evenly between your families.  

I can appreciate minority rights, but not when the minority to infinitesimal that they stop real progress from happening.