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California taxpayers have never paid more for public worker pensions, but it’s still not enough to cover the rising number of retirement checks written by the state’s largest pension plan..

James Court of the Renewable Energy Association, a body representing green energy manufacturers, said the cut was “beyond their worst fears” and that “it is hard to see how homeowners could see solar as a viable option for the foreseeable future following these disproportionate cuts.”

“Owing to the uncertainty caused by its pending expiration, businesses across the state are already adjusting their plans for project development in 2017,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar Energy Industries Association. “We shouldn’t risk a significant slowdown of solar energy by letting [it] expire.”

A secretive electric car developer recently announced that it’s scouting several locations for a new factory, fueling speculation about a state tax-credit race similar to last year’s push for Tesla’s gigafactory.

More than most states, California depends heavily on taxing the wealthy, pulling about half its income tax revenue from just 1% of residents in recent years. A sustained, significant fall in capital gains could mean a return to budget crises, and the turmoil on Wall Street is a reminder of that vulnerability.

Hundreds of Californians with household incomes of $500,000 or more have collected state subsidies for buying electric and hybrid cars under a program that is criticized as a taxpayer handout to the wealthy.

Signs of a sharp slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy have unnerved investors since Beijing surprised markets last week by devaluing its currency. Shares in the U.S., Asia and Europe have tumbled along with commodity prices as investors worry about waning Chinese demand.

The trade group, which represents Chevron, Sempra Energy and 25 other major employers, normally opposes taxes. But earlier this month, the roundtable joined forces with the California Chamber of Commerce and organized labor to promote a plan that would raise $6 billion for infrastructure. The plan calls for a mix road-related driver fees and for funneling existing tax dollars into roads, highways and bridges.

Growth worries rattled stock markets from China to Germany and the U.S., with the Dow industrials sliding to their lowest finish of the year.

Interests with a stake in better roads will put forward their principles this morning. The approach includes higher taxes on gas and diesel fuels and higher vehicle fees to generate an estimated $6 billion in additional money for state and local road maintenance and improving corridors that enhance trade, such as those to ports.

There are many other unworthy contenders, but Senate Bill 858 may be the most pointlessly cynical legislative act of this still-young century.

Legislators weighed in early and often this year with bills dictating where the growing fund could be spent. According to an analysis by the California Taxpayers Association, legislators have floated 23 bills that would allocate a whopping total of $4.8 billion.

And little of that has gone toward creating “clean energy.” Funding recipients have frittered away millions completing paperwork—energy surveys, audits, data analytics—to meet California Energy Commission’s guidelines, which require $1.05 of energy savings for every dollar spent. Schools have spent more than half of the $297 million that they’ve received on consultants and auditors. As if California’s regulatory compliance industry needed more work.

California lawmakers from both parties are calling for more stringent oversight of a clean jobs initiative after an Associated Press report found that a fraction of the promised jobs have been created.

Three years after California voters passed a ballot measure to raise taxes on corporations and generate clean energy jobs by funding energy-efficiency projects in schools, barely one-tenth of the promised jobs have been created, and the state has no comprehensive list to show how much work has been done or how much energy has been saved.