Governor set to sign landmark smog measure

SACRAMENTO – In the end, automobile mogul Cal Worthington was no match for former President Clinton, Hollywood celebrities, big donors, powerful members of Congress and even Jesuit priests.

Gov. Gray Davis announced yesterday that he will sign landmark legislation to make California the first state in the nation to regulate tailpipe emissions believed to contribute to global warming.

The decision caps weeks of intense lobbying and represents a devastating blow to automakers who fear any new California regulations will spread across the country.

Democrats say most Californians want to see reductions in carbon dioxide, which has been linked to global warming, a gradual climate change with potentially serious environmental impacts.

Automakers and the oil industry had scored what they thought was a decisive victory by blocking the original measure, AB 1058, in the Assembly.

An advertising blitz starring the well-known TV pitchman Worthington with an assist from conservative talk radio hosts had whipped many motorists into believing lawmakers wanted to limit how far and what kinds of cars they may drive.

Supporters regrouped to secretly draft an alternative that addressed many of the complaints. Any new regulations would not take effect before the 2009 model year.

Senate leader John Burton, D-San Francisco, sprung the new measure, AB 1493, on a Saturday when most of the attention was focused on the budget. This time they didn't give automakers a chance to react. Two days later, it was back before the Assembly.

Celebrities and U.S. senators went to work. Burton even used his connections with Jesuits to woo wavering Assemblyman Juan Vargas, D-San Diego.

"Everyone and their mother called me," Vargas recalled yesterday. Vargas, who had abstained earlier, said he likely put up the decisive vote to send the bill to the governor.

Vargas also was met one night at the airport by Silicon Valley businessman Bob Epstein, a supporter of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Epstein had left his 50th birthday party to fly to San Diego.

"It was not an easy vote," Vargas said. "It's one you hope that at the end of the day you did the right thing."

Steve Bing, a Hollywood movie producer and heir to a real estate fortune, also is "very enthusiastic about it becoming law," said David Hawkins of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Bing has pledged $10 million to help finance the environmental group's global warming research.

Automakers are pondering a referendum drive to overturn the new law in the November election. That requires gathering 419,260 signatures of registered voters within 90 days after the governor signs the bill.

This is going to be a classic case of unintended consequences. IF, it survives a possible referendum and/or court challenges and goes into effect it will effect more than a minute amount of CO2. All the companies that subcontract to the auto manufacturers will be compelled to lay off workers. The auto companies will lay off workers. The housing industry will lay off workers because the auto workers don't have work and can't pay the mortgage.

Need I go on?

Resolution passed this past weekend by the California Republican Assembly condeming AB 1493, etc.:

WHEREAS Assembly Bill 1493 (Pavley) would authorize the un-elected bureaucrats on the California Air Resources Board to adopt disastrous regulations to dictate automobile emissions without regard to science or economic impact; and,

WHEREAS AB 1493 passed the Legislature on a party-line vote, with the Democrats in full support of the bill as part of their long-term war against the automobile as the sumbol of freedom in modern America; and,

WHEREAS liberal Governor Gray Davis signed AB 1493 in an attempt to satisy the most fanatical elements of the environmental terrorist movement and their Marxist allies who seek to stamp out all individual freedom; and,

WHEREAS the implementation of AB 1493 by un-elected bureaucrats threatens to increase the cost of new vehicles, increase the cost of gasoline, and force Californians to drive smaller and more dangerous vehicles; and,

WHEREAS the alleged purpose of AB 1493 is ludricrous on its face, since total carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles in California constitute an immeasurably small fraction of the carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere; and,

WHEREAS the eco-terrorists who support AB 1493 have failed to even demonstrate that carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles have detrimentally impacted the atmosphere; and,

WHEREAS Governor Davis' corrupt fund-raising practices give every Californian reason to fear that the regulations ultimately adopted by The California Air Resources Board to implement AB 1493 will be motivated by secret campaign contributions and illegal bribes; and,

WHEREAS only a referendum will prevent the enactment and implementataion of AB 1493 and only a referendum will allow the voters of California to resolve this critical issue; now, therefore be it,

RESOLVED that the California Republican Assembly Board of Directors opposes the implementation of AB 1493 and continues to oppose the Democrats and their war against automobiles and individual freedoms; and, be it further,

RESOLVED that the California Republican Assembly Board of Directors hereby endorses a referendum campaign to allow the voters of California to defeat this misguided legislation.

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