I was honored to attend the Governor's speech at the Sacramento Press Club on Wednesday. Given the state of the State's budget, both the speech and press corp questions were focused on the budget negotiations of the Big Five. In response to a question from George Skelton of the LATimes (along with his reportage here) the Governor laid out his "four legged stool" analogy for his ideas within the negotiations: some new revenue, some new cuts, some new government efficiency (i.e. agency consolidation), and some 'economic stimulus.' The latter includes streamlining of environmental permitting and reducing frivolous lawsuits on public works projects, like roads and bridges and waterworks.

It isn't clear if the Governor understands that such permit streamlining and lawsuit protections should also be applied to PRIVATE works projects, but they should. Private works are just as capable as public works (perhaps more so) at putting people to work.

Two recent events illustrate the need to re-think the enthusiam of both the Governor of California and President-elect Obama about the long term sustainability of "green jobs."

Solar panel maker OptiSolar Inc. is laying off nearly half of its workers, including 105 of the 175 employees at its McClellan Park plant, the Hayward-based firm announced Friday.  The same day, Sacramento-based Pacific Ethanol announced it was temporarily halting production at the Madera plant, the first facility it built. The company blamed "unfavorable market conditions" and said it doesn't know when production will resume.