California oil tax push would direct new funds to schools
Published: Monday, May. 20, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Sen. Noreen Evans' bill would impose a tax on producing oil and gas in California.
Just months after California voters passed Proposition 30 to stave off education cuts, a push is under way to ensure that the next stream of higher education funding flows out of the ground.
The idea of an oil severance tax has been bubbling for years, but proponents have been unable to surmount intense lobbying from the energy industry.
That hasn't deterred a state senator from coming up with a bill and a University of California, Berkeley, undergraduate from circulating a ballot initiative, both of which would impose a tax on the resources that energy companies draw out of the earth and direct the windfall to California colleges.
A key difference this time around is the legislative supermajority that will allow Democrats to pass