California's Global Warming Bill Will Punish Business

And all of this is to fix a problem that's not even happening:

California’s implementation of AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, will cost small businesses almost $50,000 each annually, according to a Cal State Sacramento study for the California Small Business Roundtable.

The Cal State Sacramento cost analysis was based on findings by the California Air Resources Board, which sets the regulations and enforcement of AB 32.

The legislature passed AB 32 in 2006 to lower emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020.

The ARB estimates the law will cost $24 billion annually, but the Cal State Sacramento study says the board’s conclusion is a low-ball estimate of direct costs and overly optimistic savings that depend, in part, on technology that doesn’t even exist yet.

The university study looked at direct costs plus potential loss of production and jobs and loss to the state of business taxes.

“We conclude that when California’s climate change program is fully implemented, the annual average loss in gross state output from small businesses alone would be $182.6 billion, approximately a 10% loss in total gross state output,” study authors Sanjay Varshney and Dennis Tootellian wrote on Fox&Hounds Daily web site.

Of course, but the time this bill is fully implemented there won't be any businesses in California.