Nothing Jolly About California’s Giant Green Economy

Jeff Witt / March 10, 2010

The state of California likes to sell itself as a leader in the transition to a green economy. The only problem is, their policies are making that transition harder—and they’re not producing the job boom that politicians have been promising.

The California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) recently reviewed the impact of the state’s 2006 climate change legislation, which mandated a cut in GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.  A letter from the LAO to the state senator that requested the analysis stated that the aggregate net jobs impact of the 2006 legislation in the near term “is likely to be negative.” Don’t let the tepid language here fool you; this is seriously bad news for California.  With so much of its economic future staked on green jobs, green tech, and the viability of green energy—and given that the state currently is suffering with unemployment 20 percent higher than the national average and that it has for months been teetering on fiscal insolvency—news that green policies are hampering the state’s overall economy stultifies lawmakers’ vision for a green-economy-driven future. (more…)