Tom Steyer

Tom Steyer wore the same plaid wool tie that he wore the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that.

The GOOD: At least two billionaires have the right idea. Environmentalist and hedgefund manager Tom Steyer is funding Prop 39, an enlightened idea to close the state's loophole on taking out of state corporations, and generate $1 billion for the beleaguered state treasury. Steyer used his money to stop oil companies from gutting the state's greenhouse gas emissions law last election, for which he earned my consumer group's Phillip Burton Public Service Award.

Tom Steyer, the founder of Farallon Capital Management, a hedge fund based here, has spent $22 million on Proposition 39 to rescind a three-year-old tax benefit given to out-of-state companies. In an interview, Mr. Steyer said he decided to finance the initiative after leaders in the Democratic-controlled Legislature failed to eliminate the break themselves.

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Tom Steyer, founder of Farallon Capital Management LLC, talks about today's release of a report by the non-profit organization Consumer Watchdog that says completion of TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL pipeline will raise gas prices in the U.S. Steyer speaks with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop.”