SACRAMENTO, CA - New legislation on air quality is the latest evidence that California legislators have a strange sense of priorities. It also marks an escalation in environmental and regulatory zealotry that could, in due time, lead to higher prices for food, or even food shortages. For decades a state law has blocked state and local regulators from enforcing parts of the Clean Air Act on farms. Now State Sen. Dean Florez, a Shafter Democrat, wants to change that with a sweeping 10-bill package, SB-700-709.

The new legislation targets such activities as harvesting, tilling, and disking, which farmers must conduct to produce food. Farmers would be required to obtain permits for irrigation pumps and other machinery. Open-field burning of agricultural waste would be banned, along with wood-burning fireplaces in all new homes. Dairies cannot be established within three miles of urban areas or schools.

It will come as no surprise that the senator assembled his package with little or no input from farmers, who are particular baffled by the mandates on the way they till their fields. No other legislators from the San Joaquin Valley were willing to sign on. The co-author is Sen. Byron Sher, the Sta nford Democrat who chairs the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. The authors are right that the air in the San Joaquin Valley is dirty, but there is good reason to believe that conditions will improve.

Vehicles account for about 40 percent, or nearly half, of the air pollution in the valley. A study conducted by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and UC Berkeley has monitored automobile exhausts from the Caldecott tunnel, a heavy-traffic area ideal for taking such readings. Between 1994 and 2001, carbon monoxide emissions declined 62 percent, nitrogen oxides fell 49 percent, non-methane organic compounds fell 67 percent, and benzene fell a full 82 percent. These declines occurred even though the number of SUVs increased from 31 to 38 percent of all autos. The study concludes that fleet turnover to newer cars has a greater overall impact on emissions than fuel changes for most pollutants. They expect the reduction in emissions to continue, which is good news for the valley and everywhere else.

Meanwhile, it is hardly the case that farmers have been exempt from all regulation and now must bear their share. Farmers are already burdened with rules, particularly regarding pesticides. This regulatory burden has already led some to give up on farming and if Sen. Florez has his way, more will follow.

Environmental activists have tended to demonize "industry" rather than farmers. The Florez package may mark a change, bringing wrath on those in the business of producing food. But heavy-handed regulation will only result in scarcity and higher prices, a high cost for Californians to pay.

K. Lloyd Billingsley is editorial director of the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco. He can be reached via email at klbillingsley@pacificresearch.org.