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California Leaders Reunite For Green Jobs

SACRAMENTO (KCBS) – The bi-partisan group that helped to defeat a statewide proposition last November is coming together once again to ensure that California's global warming law works.

The group "Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs" helped to defeat Proposition 23 last November. Proposition 23 would have halted implementation of AB32, California's Climate Change law, until unemployment reached 5.5 percent for three consecutive quarters.

The group was headed by former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Farallon Capital Management Senior Partner Tom Steyer.

"We're trying to make sure the jobs stay here and that we get the kind of growth that will show the country that this way of thinking is intensely practical and real world," said Steyer.

KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:

Shultz said less reliance on oil is an important part of helping to protect national security.

"I go back to the Arab oil embargo in 1973 that threw a curve in our economy then," he said.

And he notes that oil prices are going through the roof.

"We have to say can't we do better than that. The efforts to find our way to clean energy are an effort to find energy that's created where it's used to a greater extent," said Shultz.

The organization said they will support national, state, regional and local clean energy policy that protect public health and promote job growth and national security.

(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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