In a rare moment of sanity, the California legislature has at least temporarily put the kibosh on a bill that would have made oil and gas companies liable for injuries that private citizens sustain due to natural disasters. What makes the crazy bill nationally interesting is that it came from Scott Wiener, who is considered by some to be a reasonable choice to replace Nancy Pelosi when she leaves the House.

Wiener is not entirely disconnected from the practical realities of governance. When he was on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he listened to constituents who were tired of naked people running around in San Francisco and sponsored legislation banning the practice outside of events that permitted public nudity. He was also willing to allow people to build in-law units in their homes and to bypass certain rent control limitations for people left homeless because of fires or earthquakes. Those are sensible things.

Image by Gabe Classon. CC BY 2.0.

On the less sensible side, which has blossomed since he was elected to the state legislature, he’s:

• Originated failed legislation to decriminalize psychedelic drugs
• Originated successful legislation to make it a mere misdemeanor to expose someone to HIV, a deadly disease.
• Originated legislation to make it California’s official policy to have a “non-binary” option for government documents.
• Originated successful legislation requiring long-term care facilities for seniors to pretend that there are more than two sexes, a deep offense to the elderly women who mostly populate those centers and the employees, most of whom are immigrants from conservative, third-world countries. (The bill was eventually overturned for violating employees’ free speech rights.)
• Unsuccessfully pushed a bill that would have prevented corrective surgery on the small number of intersex babies (a true genetic defect), so that these children could decide their own “gender.”
• Successfully pushed for a law making it legal to have homosexual sex with a minor 14 years or older.
• Successfully pushed for a law making California a “trans refugee” state so a parent can flee if she/he/it wants to “trans” a child but is opposed either by state law or the other parent.
• Successfully pushed to force many new buildings to install expensive solar panels with finite lifespans and then end up as landfill.
• Successfully pushed for net neutrality in California.
• Successfully pushed to force presidential candidates to reveal their tax returns, only to have the California Supreme Court overturn it.
• Successfully pushed forward a bill mandating CalTrans to prioritize road improvements, not for cars, but for pedestrians and bicycles.
• Unsuccessfully pushed for a 40% estate tax in California on large estates.
• Pushed with mixed success for more and more high-density and subsidized housing in the suburbs (which tend to be conservative).

And on and on. He is a leftist’s leftist.

The one thing where he earns some kudos is that he’s a bit concerned about rising antisemitism, including on college campuses. However, he doesn’t seem to see the connection between leftism and antisemitism.

Wiener’s radicalism is not a problem in California, though, as seen by the number of legislative successes he’s scored. Indeed, he’s considered a man with a future. According to the New York Times,

One of the strongest potential challengers for the former speaker [Nancy Pelosi] would be State Senator Scott Wiener, who has collected nearly $1 million in an exploratory committee to fund a race for the seat he has openly coveted for years. He has won support from a wide variety of voters, including many in the L.G.B.T.Q. community.

Given the political powerhouse that is Scott Wiener, it’s impressive that his latest climate change initiative, one that has the bonus of punishing oil companies, failed in California—yet it did, at least for now:

California lawmakers have blocked a bill to make oil and gas companies liable for damage to homes from natural disasters caused by climate change, warning it could raise gas prices.

The bill would have allowed victims of natural disasters, including fires, floods and hurricanes, to sue fossil fuel companies over harm to themselves or their property for damage totaling at least $10,000. Home insurers would also have been able to seek damages under the legislation. The proposal was announced weeks after the Los Angeles-area fires broke out in January, burning thousands of homes and killing at least 30 people.

Once, wildfires, floods, and hurricanes were considered Acts of God, although humans could have an effect on them. For example, because California, in thrall to the environmentalists, has stopped doing the ground clearance that inhibits the build-up of flammable growth near residential areas, there’s a greater fire risk during the droughts that have been a part of California’s natural cycle for thousands of years.

But Wiener, although he identifies as Jewish, doesn’t seem to have a concept of a God that might be behind “Acts of God.” For him, the oil companies are the anti-gods, malevolent figures with the vast power to control, if not the universe, at least the Earth’s climate. Put more simply, “oil companies equal Satan,” and Satan must be made to pay.

For now, sanity has prevailed in California, but while California’s Senate Judiciary Committee tabled the bill, it “left open the possibility for it to be reconsidered later this year.”

That should worry Californians a lot. Average gas prices in America today are $3.21/gallon. In some places (such as South Carolina, where I live), they’re around $2.60/gallon. In California, though, the average price is $4.91/gallon. And if Wiener’s bill gets a second, successful chance, Californians will long for the days when gas prices were below $5/gallon.