California Drivers would pay more to fund research to develop cleaner fuels

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Legislation by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez to increase fees on California motorists by nearly $167 million each year to pay for cleaner air breezed through the Assembly with little debate and even less fanfare.

The legislation, AB118, in part is Núñez's answer to voters' defeat in November of Proposition 87, a proposed $4 billion tax on oil production over a decade that the speaker supported as a way to jump-start development of environment-friendly fuels to replace gasoline.

Prop. 87 arguably was the most contentious initiative on the ballot. Both sides -- primarily big oil versus Hollywood mogul Stephen Bing -- spent a combined $156 million in television and radio ads that began months before the election.

AB118, on the other hand, zipped through the Assembly on June 5 with less than two minutes of debate on a largely party-line vote of 48-29. The bill is now in the hands of the state Senate.

"When bills get rushed through without much public debate, the public's opportunity to weigh in ... is limited," said Ned Wigglesworth, a policy advocate at California Common Cause.

A spokesman for Núñez, D-Los Angeles, said a lack of debate is a result of the bill enjoying support from a wide variety of groups.

Theft by majority rule.