California chucks Commerce Clause: Proposes tax on out-of-state fossil fuel use

California officials are proposing to levy a tax on imported electricity that is produced by the use of fossil fuels, according to a report in Carbon Control News.

This move should be held to violate the Commerce Clause of the Constitution in that the goal is to make in-state wind and solar produced electricity more competitive with less expensive out-of-state fossil fuel-generated electricity.

In the 1935 case of BALDWIN v. G. A. F. SEELIG, INC., the Supreme Court held that states may not practice economic protectionism.