I support Governor Brown's proposal for a cap on liability for the federal government's fire protection and land restoration.
A court of law is not a proper place for collecting extensive handouts from the state or private investors. Certainly, the costs of protecting and maintaining forestry should be permitted as much as possible, but to permit the federal government to demand six times the value of the land and the resources used to put out fires — that is a flagrant violation of ethics and state sovereignty.
Whether Governor Brown is making this move to shore up support from the timber and the private forestry industries in the state or not, voters in the state of California should be glad that a Democratic governor, and a progressive one at that, is talking seriously about tort reform.