California's Budget Undercuts Climate Change Policy

The state spending plan approved by lawmakers eliminates state funding for transit operations and shifts $2 billion away from urban redevelopment. The governor, though, went further by eliminating all but $1,000 of funding for the state's biggest anti-sprawl program.

You would think that public officials worried about climate change would want to limit sprawl and its correlated traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. But considering the governor's budget-slashing, the question now is whether the program, which provides tax breaks to agricultural landowners who do not develop their property, will survive at all.