The left devours even itself:
The state of California has declared that many grass-roots environmental conservation efforts are actually illegal. The controversy, which has already halted river restoration projects statewide, stems from the state’s “prevailing wage” law. Like many states, California requires that workers on public works projects be paid the equivalent of union wages. A related provision bars the use of a combination of paid workers and volunteers on the same state-funded project.
Last October, the state Department of Industrial Relations ordered a Redding, Calif., environmental organization, the Sacramento Watershed Action Group, to pay a fine of more than $33,000 after it used both students and a subcontractor to help restore an overgrown and obstructed riverbed. The department acted after a complaint from a union-funded watchdog group that presses for strict enforcement of the state’s contracting laws. [NYSun]