California Business Minute™

Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

Consumer advocates, small businesses, trade associations, and anti-tax groups
have launched a new coalition -- Californians for Smart Energy -- to demonstrate
the widespread opposition to the California Energy Commission's (CEC) unnecessary
and job-killing proposal to set arbitrary limits on television electricity usage.

The CEC is expected to act on the proposed regulation sometime this summer, and
the economic impact would be dramatic.

The CEC's regulation would effectively ban the sale of 25 percent of current
big screen TV models and 100 percent of plasma TVs larger than 60 inches in
California. According to a Resolution Economics, LLC study, the CEC's regulation
would cost California $50 million a year in lost tax revenues and destroy 4,600
jobs.

"Does the CEC not realize that savvy consumers will simply buy the TVs they want
online or across state lines, driving away California jobs and tax revenues with
it?" said Joel Ayala, President & CEO of the California Hispanic Chambers of
Commerce. "This is a bad idea even with a good economy; with a bad economy this
is horrible - many small businesses will literally be priced out of the market.
I urge the CEC to not make a bad situation worse with this job-killing regulation."
Industry experts reiterated that this regulation is unnecessary, and that television
manufacturers are already working with government to meet energy efficiency goals.

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.

The coalition also launched an interactive website  -- www.CASmartEnergy.com