{"id":7022,"date":"2014-02-18T10:26:04","date_gmt":"2014-02-18T18:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=7022"},"modified":"2014-02-18T10:26:04","modified_gmt":"2014-02-18T18:26:04","slug":"lets-save-california-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/lets-save-california-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Save California Now!"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0PJ Media<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Just a handful of legislative acts might still save California. Here are 12 brief examples:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0The Hetch Hetchy Smelt and Salmon Act<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

This so-called \u201cSkip a Shower, Save a Smelt Act\u201d would transfer control of the\u00a0Hetch \"800px-Flag_of_California.svg\"Hetchy reservoir<\/a>\u00a0releases from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The legislation would dismantle sections of the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct west beyond the San Joaquin River, stop the present unnatural diversion of fresh water to San Francisco, and allow instead Hetch Hetchy fresh water to resume natural flows to the San Joaquin River \u2014 thus allowing the San Joaquin River and Tuolumne River to recover their salmon populations.<\/p>\n

In addition, the transfers of fresh Hetch Hetchy water into the delta and beyond to the Pacific Ocean would preserve\u00a0delta smelt<\/a>\u00a0populations. \u00a0To make up the losses, the law would set up Bay Area water commissions to monitor mandatory rationing, recycling, and the recovery of sewage and grey water. It would also assess new taxes for wind and solar salinization plants to replace the 265,000 acre feet currently diverted to Bay Area residential use from its proper role in ensuring healthy fish populations.\u00a0Aim: To synchronize water resources with water-use advocacy.<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0The Undocumented Immigrant Equity Act<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cI am Juan too Act\u201d would assess all California communities by U.S. Census data to ascertain average per-household income levels as well as diversity percentages. Those counties assessed on average in the top 10% bracket of the state\u2019s per-household income level, and which do not reflect the general ethnic make-up of the state, would be required to provide low-income housing for undocumented immigrants, who by 2020 would by law make up not less than 20% of such targeted communities\u2019 general populations.<\/p>\n

There are dozens of empty miles, for example, along the 280 freeway corridor from Palo Alto to Burlingame \u2014 an ideal place for high-density, low-income housing, served by high-speed rail.\u00a0Aim: One, to achieve economic parity for undocumented immigrants by allowing them affordable housing in affluent areas where jobs are plentiful, wages are high, and opportunities exist for mentorships; and, two, to ensure cultural diversity\u00a0among the non-diverse host community<\/a>, bringing it into compliance with the state\u2019s ethnic profile. \u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0The Cultivating Diversity Education Equilibrium Act<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cBeverly Hills to the Barrio Act\u201d would ensure that all California school populations reflect the state\u2019s rich ethnic diversity percentages. Schools would lose state aid if their student populations were not commensurate with state ethnic-group target levels. To take one example of the choices available for school districts to partner and find common solutions: School districts in Redwood City or\u00a0East Palo Alto<\/a>, for example, would bus more students on those campuses found in numbers out of compliance with statewide percentages to Menlo-Atherton. The latter in turn would bus more of its own students found in excess of state averages to Redwood City and East Palo school districts, until all three campuses reached \u201cdiversity equilibrium\u201d and matched the correct racial percentages in the state.\u00a0Aim: To end disparities in California school testing and performance levels accruing largely due to intrinsic racial and ethnic discrimination.<\/i><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0The Silicon Valley Transparency and Fair Jobs Act<\/i><\/strong>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

This \u201cGoogle Good Citizen Act\u201d would set up a regional board to monitor commerce in the San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara tri-county area. The state regulatory commission would monitor offshore investment, outsourcing, and unionization. All commercial entities, with over 100 employees, would be in violation and face state fines if: 1) the number of a firm\u2019s employees overseas accounted for 10% or more of the workforce currently employed within the tri-county Silicon Valley area; 2) \u00a0more than 1% of the current capitalization of a Silicon Valley company were deposited in banks outside the United States; \u00a0and 3) \u00a0more than 50% of a tri-county company\u2019s workforce were non-union.\u00a0Aim: To ensure progressive Silicon Valley commercial businesses\u00a0are caring progressive state citizens<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

5.\u00a0The California Firearms Safety Act<\/i><\/strong>
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

The \u201cNo Guns for Grandees Act\u201d would forbid private security details to be armed with handguns or semi-automatic long guns. It would allow private security personnel to be armed only with paintball, BB or pellet guns. Aim: To prevent unnecessary armed deterrence by private security units\u00a0in the hire of the affluent<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

6.\u00a0The Fair Housing Adjustment Act<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cEverywhere an\u00a0Atherton<\/a>\u00a0Act\u201d would tax all private residential square footage in excess of 1800 square feet at four times the current per square foot assessment.\u00a0Aim: It would ensure state resources are equally distributed and not inordinately siphoned off to a small minority of the state population. Would encourage existing large homes to downsize\u00a0through reverse remodeling<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

7.\u00a0The High-speed Rail Equality Act<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cStart It in Menlo Park Act\u201d would require all high-speed rail to begin construction in sequential fashion, beginning at the designated start of the proposed route. It forbids building out of sequence before beginning segments are completed.Aim: To ensure commuters in Los Angeles and San Francisco will have priority in construction, avoiding privileging Fresno-to-Corcoran commuters, where construction of the first link of the high-speed rail line is slated to begin.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

8.\u00a0The Climate Change Adjustment and Fair Temperature Act<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

This \u201cTulare Becomes Carmel Act\u201d would order PG&E and Southern California Edison to assess a 30% surcharge on kilowatt rates of those residents in areas where the yearly mean high temperatures did not exceed 85 degrees and low temperatures did not go below 40 degrees. Accruing revenue would subsidize those living in hot summer and cold winter climates of the state, to ensure that they had access to affordable heating and cooling.\u00a0Aim: To ensure every Californian the right to live in a house with temperatures at 75 degrees.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

9.\u00a0The One-percenter Politician Act<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

The so-called \u201cPelosi and Feinstein Act\u201d orders the California Franchise Tax Board to ascertain the incomes of all spouses of California federal, state, and local politicians; and taxes all spousal self-employed income of elected officials in excess of $100,000 at a 90% rate.\u00a0Aim: To ensure that California\u2019s representatives reflect the rich economic diversity and income averages of the state. It also prohibits inside influence peddling on the part of politicians.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

10.\u00a0The Protect the Peregrine Act<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cFriends of Feathers Act\u201d establishes a $1,000,000 fine for the killing of any eagle, hawk, falcon, owl, or protected bird of prey\u00a0by wind-generation machines<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0desert solar power plants<\/a>. Aim:\u00a0To stop the wind and solar industry from harming natural ecosystem of California.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

11.\u00a0The Petroleum Fair Use Act<\/i><\/strong>
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

The \u201cPump What You Use Act\u201d establishes a state board to ensure California gasoline consumption matches state oil production. It collates daily refining outputs of California-produced petroleum with daily state sales of gasoline. It cuts off all daily state sales of gasoline that exceed daily state refinery production of state-produced petroleum.\u00a0Aim: To ensure that Californians only consume the gasoline they produce and thereby do not promote a larger carbon footprint by subsidizing out-of-state oil production not overseen\u00a0by California resource legislation<\/a>.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

12. The California Fair Automobile Act<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

The so-called \u201cMalibu Beamer Act\u201d establishes that all imported California vehicles deemed \u201cluxury\u201d (e.g., in 2014 with new sticker prices in excess of $60,000) shall be taxed at a 30% rate for each dollar of sales value over $60,000.\u00a0Aim: To ensure so-called imported high-performance and luxury cars do not use an inordinate amount of state energy resources, or leave large carbon footprints on the California ecological landscape, or divert collective resources\u00a0to the individual<\/a>\u00a0from the greater needs of the state.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

If we were to pass these laws, California would change overnight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0PJ Media\u00a0 Just a handful of legislative acts might still save California. Here are 12 brief examples: 1.\u00a0The Hetch Hetchy Smelt and Salmon Act This so-called \u201cSkip a Shower, Save a Smelt Act\u201d would transfer control of the\u00a0Hetch Hetchy reservoir\u00a0releases from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to the California Department […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[16],"tags":[1014,221,289,35,626,268,916,570,213,856,242,928],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1Pg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7817,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/mythologies-and-pathologies-of-the-california-drought\/","url_meta":{"origin":7022,"position":0},"title":"Mythologies and Pathologies of the California Drought","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJMedia The third year of California drought has exposed all sorts of water fantasies. If in wet years they were implicit, now without rain or snow for nearly three years, they are all too explicit. Add them up. Take the Bay Area, Ground Zero of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Global Warming"","block_context":{"text":"Global Warming","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/global-warming-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/silicon_valley_duck_race_3-30-14-1-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7175,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/fish-instead-of-people-ideologies-without-consequences\/","url_meta":{"origin":7022,"position":1},"title":"Fish Instead of People, Ideologies without Consequences","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJ Media\u00a0 If only people had to live in the world that they dreamed of for others. Endangered species everywhere are supposed to be at risk \u2014 except birds of prey\u00a0shredded by wind turbine farms, or reptilian habitats\u00a0harmed by massive solar farms.\u00a0High-speed rail\u00a0is great for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "California"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/california\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7017,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/aristocratic-sermonizing\/","url_meta":{"origin":7022,"position":2},"title":"Aristocratic Sermonizing","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0NRO's The Corner\u00a0 Secretary of State John Kerry, a veritable billionaire who is not shy about acquiring carbon-consuming luxury boats, cars, and toys, and who leaves an incorrectly large carbon footprint when he engages in private travel, just gave a screed to relatively poor Indonesia on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Energy"","block_context":{"text":"Energy","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/energy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7045,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/meet-the-richerals\/","url_meta":{"origin":7022,"position":3},"title":"Meet the Richerals","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0PJ Media The new millennium has also given us a new American profile \u2014 the hip richeral. Richerals are, of course, well off. But they are even more cool and liberal. The two facts are not so much incompatible, as complementary. For some, big money allows\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Political Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Political Culture","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/american-culture\/political-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8199,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-scorching-of-california\/","url_meta":{"origin":7022,"position":4},"title":"The Scorching of California","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"How Green extremists made a bad drought worse by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ City Journal\u00a0 In mid-December, the first large storms in three years drenched California. No one knows whether the rain and snow will continue\u2014only that it must last for weeks if a record three-year drought, both natural and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "California"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/california\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"MICAH ALBERT\/REDUX","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/25_1-vdh.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8890,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-scorching-of-california-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":7022,"position":5},"title":"The Scorching of California","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"How Green extremists made a bad drought worse. By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ City Journal In mid-December, the first large storms in three years drenched California. No one knows whether the rain and snow will continue\u2014only that it must last for weeks if a record three-year drought, both natural and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7022"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7022"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7026,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7022\/revisions\/7026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}