Legislature

The best time to have a hearing on another health insurance merger in California is when few in the media are around to prepare for it. So, obviously, California plans another health insurance merger hearing on the Monday after New Year's. Let's hope it is more informative than the last one, though we have our doubts. But the holiday season is also, in political terms, the calm before the legislative storm. The Legislature begins its next session on Jan. 4. 

For the oil industry, this year’s legislative session was full of doomsday legislation – bills targeting petroleum use, emissions, environmental protection, and profits. For the rest of us, it was the opposite – a bright spot in the battle over climate change. It’s no surprise then that the oil industry spent $11 million on lobbying in the third quarter alone. But that’s a pittance compared to the billions of dollars in profit it was protecting.