Left Coast Looniness Shows Up in Legislative Proposals

Susannah Luthi writes for the Washington Free Beacon about some of the nuttiest ideas to emerge in California’s legislative session.

California Democrats are poised to make life harder and more expensive for their constituents this year, with thousands of new proposals to regulate cow farts, dispense taxpayer-funded tampons to men, teach climate propaganda to kids, and unleash legal attacks on crisis pregnancy centers.

Here are just a few of the 2,632 bills Californians should watch out for. And since California Democrats love to say their state leads the nation in legislation, perhaps the rest of the country should watch out, too.

LGBT studies for California kids.

Local school districts would lose all discretionary control of their bookshelves under a bill that would order K-12 classroom materials to explore race, gender, and sexuality, while including work by “people of all gender expressions.” Schools would need the state’s sign-off to pull any books or publications under this category from their shelves.

“Body shaming” and climate change courses in schools.

California K-12 students lag in reading and math, but policymakers want them to learn about “body-shaming.” Another proposal would require students grades seven and up to learn the “causes and effects of climate change” and “methods to mitigate and adapt to climate change.”

Energy crackdowns galore.

Residents of solar industry-friendly California already pay more than most other Americans for electricity. But Democrats seem ready to add to the instability with stricter rules for imported natural gas, a proposal to make local jurisdictions take a “greenhouse gas inventory,” and an ominous placeholder bill calling for more legislation to cut methane emissions.

Regulating cow farts.

Senate Bill 485 would order “compliance protocols” prodding ranchers to give their cattle anti-farting and anti-belching feed. The measure is reminiscent of New Zealand’s new push to tax farmers for their cows’ farts, amid global environmentalists’ furor over people’s beef consumption.