Governator introduces massive solar plan

[menewa]

This could be a great step forward for America. I just hope partisan bickering does not shut it down.

The Golden State could soon enact the most ambitious solar-energy initiative ever proposed in the U.S. -- legislation intended to put photovoltaic panels on a million California rooftops. Unless, that is, the bill gets derailed by a behind-the-scenes political pissing match between Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has thrown his prodigious weight behind the initiative, and the Democrats who control the state legislature.

The Governator unveiled the initiative last August under the name "Million Solar Homes," proposing a 10-year subsidy plan to stimulate solar purchases on residential buildings. It picked up bipartisan backing from the get-go: Later that month, a Democratic state senator from Los Angeles County, Kevin Murray, incorporated the proposal into his own bill requiring a fixed percentage of all new California homes to have on-site solar power. But the combined package failed to pass out of committee, largely because of objections from Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats to the program's cost and solar-installation mandate.

From: http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2005/06/23/little-solar/index.html