Ban on Fur Products Fleeces Small Biz & Consumer Choice

If there is one thing that Californians usually agree upon, it’s that personal morality shouldn’t be legislated.  And yet, that is exactly what is happening with AB 44, an Assembly bill that, if passed, would ban the manufacturing and sale of some types of natural and sustainable fur products. Supporters believe fur is immoral and […]

AB 638: A Recipe for More Pain at the Pump

High gas prices have been in the news a lot lately, and consumers all over the country have been demanding that the government do something about it.   In California it’s even worse since prices
here are among the highest in the United States.

So it makes absolutely no sense that there’s a bill under
consideration by the Legislature that would drive gasoline and diesel costs in
California even higher. But AB 638 (Skinner) would do just that.  If passed, this new law would require the
adoption of measures to achieve a dramatic decrease in the use of petroleum
fuels and force significantly higher usage of alternatives.

Studies have concluded that in order to do that the
government would have to impose taxes and fees that would discourage
consumption of the fuels we use every day. 
Suggestions by the California Energy Commission and California Air
Resources Board for these include a 50-cents-per-gallon direct tax on gasoline
and diesel fuel at the pump, pay-at-the-pump auto insurance, a vehicle miles
traveled tax and a fee of thousands of dollars added to the cost of purchasing some
conventionally-fueled vehicles.  The
price tag to consumers?  An estimated
$195 billion over ten years.