California’s economy is in no danger of catching fire, but its scenic beauty is.
Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown has been busy signing bills into laws, demonstrating an intriguing set of executive priorities.
First, he bans the word “alien” from the state’s labor code.
Sacramento has its own Censor-in-Chief. Gov. Jerry Brown just signed a bill making the word “alien” ironically illegal.Brown signed SB 432 by Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, to remove the term “alien” from the California labor code to describe foreign-born workers.“Mendoza said removing the term ‘alien’ was an important step toward modernizing California law because it is now commonly considered a derogatory term with very negative connotations,” the AP/CBS reported.“The only vote against the bill came in the State Assembly, from Assemblyman Matthew Harper, R-Huntington Beach (Orange County), who told the San Francisco Chronicle that the bill was ‘just a way for legislators to get their names in the paper….[t]he negative connotations come from the fact that people are breaking the law. Changing the word won’t change the fact that folks are here illegally.” Breitbart reported.
Then, he targets one of the few successful industries in the state. Why? Because marijuana farmers are surprisingly uninterested in following California’s numerous, complex, and expensive environmental regulations.
Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed into law a measure allowing steep civil fines against marijuana farms that damage the environment by dumping wastewater and chemicals, removing trees and killing wild animals.The measure, one of 16 bills signed by the governor Friday, is meant to expand the powers of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife at a time when illegal marijuana operations are expanding significantly.Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) introduced the measure based on concern that since California voters approved medical marijuana use in 1996, the number of illegal growing operations in state parklands and forests has increased.Last year, state agents participated in nearly 250 raids on illegal marijuana operations in which 609,480 marijuana plants were eradicated and 15,839 pounds of processed marijuana was seized.Investigators found more than 135 dams or diversions in rivers and streams that resulted in the theft of about 5 million gallons of water for marijuana grows.
Despite the fact that Brown isn’t running for President in 2016, Brown’s drought policies were harshly criticized by three Republican hopefuls during a campaign swing through the neighboring state of Nevada.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) of Texas, which has just begun to recover from a extreme drought, said that “global warming alarmists” were “just interested politically in more power over the economy and our lives,” according to a report by David Siders of the Sacramento Bee.Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin also pointed to environmentalists’ objections to building dams to store water: “I think radical environmental policies that stop things like dams from going in so that water..can be used effectively is something we should be talking about.Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who hails from California, told the Sacramento Bee that even if climate change was involved, “California has had droughts for millennia….And so knowing that, you would think that you would prepare for droughts by building reservoirs and water conveyance systems so that you could save the rainwater during years when there’s a lot of rain.”
Because the chance of California voting for the Republican candidate in November 2016 is between slim and none, conservatives in the state will have to settle for a light sprinkling of attention from the GOP this campaign season.
Meanwhile, we await the promised “Godzilla” El Niño that will bring rain, drought relief, and more inane climate change inanity. Mother Nature is the only entity making effective policy in California.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY