[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Assemblymember Bonnie Garcia (R-Cathedral City) yesterday voted against legislation that would have help make solar water heating systems more affordable to Desert families -- the latest in a string of anti-environmental votes made by Garcia.
 
“The Solar Hot Water and Efficiency Act of 2007” (Assembly Bill 1470), would require the Public Utilities Commission to design a program to provide incentives for homeowners to buy solar water heaters. It passed the Assembly 41-31. Garcia joined fellow Republicans in opposing the bill.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

It's sad to watch the lengths at which right-wing blowhards like Republicans Assemblymen Doug LaMalfa and Chuck DeVore lecture the legislature about the benefits of nuclear power, big hydro, and other dirty technologies. Today when the chips were down on legislation authored by Marin County Democratic Assemblymember Jared Huffman to promote solar water heaters, LaMalfa and his likely GOP Senate primary foe Rick Keene tried to outdo each other in attacking solar power.
 
Keene suggested that California families didn't need any financial help to afford solar water heaters. Keene, who as chief Republican henchman on the Assembly Budget Committee last year (since dumped) routinely slashed funding for California's most vulnerable citizens, shed crocodile tears about how low and middle-income families would have to pay more on their energy bills to help pay for the solar program. It didn't take long for LaMalfa to pop up after Keene spoke (which has become fairly routine these days), and babble about the need for more hydro plants and nuclear plants. Fortunately the bill passed overwhelmingly.