State Sen. Noreen Evans' state oil tax bill appears dead

A North Coast lawmaker's bid to tax oil extraction in California appears to be dead.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday did not advance the bill by Sen. Noreen Evans, D—Santa Rosa, that would have levied a 9.5 percent severance tax on the extraction of oil in California.

The senator estimated the tax would have generated about $2 billion annually. The revenue would have gone go into an endowment fund, with half allocated to the state's three higher-education systems and the rest divided equally between the California parks system and health and human services programs.

California's oil industry opposed the tax, saying it would staunch production and lead to higher prices at the pump. Industry representatives also argued that the state's oil companies already pay their fair share of taxes.

Evans' bill, SB 1017, could be taken up later because it's considered an urgency measure. More likely, the bill is dead, and proponents of a tax will now have to decide whether to pursue the effort at the ballot box.