The Los Angeles Police Protective League yesterday backed the mostly Texas-oil company funded Prop 23, which would suspend California's landmark global warming bill, AB 32. At issue for the LAPD union are city budget constraints, which is affecting the number of officers on the streets. more ›

Surprise, surprise. Cash-strapped California is the only of the 22 major oil states that do not tax companies for taking the black gold out of the ground. Now with the BP oil spill in the Gulf and Prop 23 at the public forefront, Democrats this Summer have crafted two budget proposals that put an oil production tax in the picture. more ›

Get your creative juices and rhyming schemes together. Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced the proposition numbers assigned to the 10 measures that will appear on the November 2nd ballot. Of note is Prop 19, which will be followed closely across the country. We're curious what rhyming and/or creative slogans will come out with that one (bad example: "get green with nineteen"). Here's the full list of measures and brief descriptions, compliments of the Center for Governmental Studies here in Los Angeles: more ›

Governor Arnold Schwarzengger was quick to make a statement last night after the oil-company funded ballot measure that would weaken California's landmark air pollution bill officially made the ballot. "“This initiative sponsored by greedy Texas oil companies would cripple California’s fastest growing economic sector, reverse our renewable energy policy and decimate our environmental progress for the benefit of these oil companies’ profit margins," he said in a statement. "I will not allow this to happen on my watch." Environmental groups have been anticipating that ballot measure for months and now the real fight begins. more ›

A measure largely funded by two large Texas oil companies that would suspend California pollution standards unless unemployment dropped significantly qualified for the November ballot, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced today. more ›

For Earth Day, a group of environmentalists this morning protested outside a Valero gas station on a busy Los Feliz corner hoping to bring attention to an initiative that's likely to appear on November's ballot. That initiative, which is partly funded by the Texas-owned Valero and Tesero, would suspend "state laws requiring reduced greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, until California's unemployment rate drops to 4.8 percent or less for four consecutive quarters," according a summary by the Attorney General. more ›

Environmental groups will hit the streets on Thursday to protest two Texas oil companies that are bankrolling a ballot initiative that, if placed on the ballot and approved, would roll back California's landmark climate law AB 32. more ›

If you thought Sacramento politics was like watching paint dry on a wall, then it's time to revaluate that thought... at least for the moment. On Friday, the Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert blog picked their Press Release of the Week and if the proposed bill is passed, it could effect the roadways here in Los Angeles by letting solo drivers, including Hummers and other SUVs, gain access to car pool lanes if they purchase carbon off-sets annually. According to Senator Jim Battin (R- La Quinta), who submitted the bill, a "flashy, fuel-sucking car" (like his Lincon Aviator) only costs $45 a year while a Prius' carbon footprint can be neutralized for $15 (otherwise, the green bean car becomes "a worse foe to the environment than an SUV"). more ›