California’s Cap and Trade extension passed today with Republican support:
“The extension was part of a three-bill package, which passed. One measure aims to improve local air quality, and helped bring some Democrats on board with the cap-and-trade deal. Republicans, however, favored a third bill that may give them more of a say in how to spend the money collected through cap and trade.
“Brown sounded an apocalyptic tone in a rare personal appeal before a Senate committee last week, telling lawmakers that failing to pass the extension would lead to fires, disease and mass migration, not to mention higher costs for food and gasoline.
“Republicans likened the bill to a tax that will hit Californians at the gas pump and the grocery store. The nonpartisan legislative analyst said last year that the existing cap and trade program accounted for an 11-cent-per-gallon increase in gasoline prices. The office has not analyzed the extension proposal.”
Assemblyman Rocky Chávez was an important vote for Governor Brown’s pet project. He explained his support away with a logical fallacy:
“You know, global warming has become a partisan issue,” Chavez said. As a Republican who believes in science, I don’t have that hurdle to overcome.”
His fallacious explanation however, doesn’t negate the fact that Chávez violated the Taxpayer Promise he signed, in 2012 to get elected to the Assembly. The Cap and Trade extension imposes an even greater tax on the poorest of Californians at the pump. Thus, Chávez broke the promise by voting to raise taxes.
He just can’t be trusted to keep his promises.