Today’s award goes out to the politicians of the great state of California for attempting (like Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois before them) to pass unconstitutional videogame-related laws…and FAILING.
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) received a check of exactly $282,794 from the state government yesterday to repay legal fees incurred in order to combat a faulty piece of legislation that "attempted to defend an unconstitutional law restricting the constitutional rights of video game publishers, developers and consumers." That’s about $30,000 more than the average reimbursement paid by the three aforementioned states for similar laws, and it comes at a time when California simply cannot afford to be throwing away money.
* California is currently facing a $15-billion budget gap
* More than 10,000 California state employees were laid off last week in light of the budget crisis
* Governor Schwarzenegger is seeking to cut wages for nearly 200,000 state employees
* The state already cut 10 percent to its Medicaid reimbursement rate and deferred payments to vendors
On top of all this, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has appealed the ruling, setting the stage for even more hemorrhaging of the public coffers.
"It is unfortunate that the state is stubbornly pursuing an appeal that is likely to lead to even more court-awarded fees," said ESA CEO Michael Gallagher.
For this string of blatantly foolish and detrimental pursuits of personal agendas, the "Economy Award" goes out to Mr. Schwarzenegger and all his pals in California’s government offices.
[Eddie Inzauto]
