A solar energy field under construction for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District in Rancho Cordova, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009. (AP)

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California has always been a mainspring of American economic growth. In wave after wave of discovery and innovation, from gold to the Internet, California has cracked open new frontiers for itself and the country.

Now California’s in trouble – with debt, foreclosure, layoffs, unemployment worse than the nation’s.

But once again it’s got a great, bright hope — this time, clean tech and the green economy. It’s on fire, but is it enough?

This hour, On Point: in a special broadcast from outside Los Angeles, can California’s green economy save California? Can it save the country?

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Mary Nichols, Chair of the California Air Resources Board (appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in July 2007). She was assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air and Radiation program under the Clinton Administration.

Bill Gross, a lifelong entrepreneur and founder of Idealab, a business incubator which seeks to help fledging companies with new innovations. Idealab is invested in Aptera Motors, Energy Innovations, eSolar (where Gross is CEO), Distributed World Power, RayTracker, and Infinia. Energy Innovations completed the world’s largest corporate solar installation at Google headquarters in 2006.

Gary Polakovic, former lead environmental writer at the Los Angeles Times, where he shared in a Pulitzer Prize. He’s now president of Make Over Earth, Inc., a public affairs firm specializing in environment and energy issues. He’s covered environmental issues in California and across the nation for 23 years.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses the revised state budget proposal for the coming fiscal year during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, May 14, 2009. (AP)

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When it comes to American states, California has long been number one on many fronts. Now, it’s number one in fiscal crisis.

Like many states in the economic bust, California’s spending has drastically outstripped its income. It has the highest sales tax in the nation and some of the country’s highest state income taxes: 10.5 percent at a million dollars.

But it’s also staring at a $21 billion deficit, and its voters just said no to higher taxes. It may have to empty prisons. Close schools. And it’s lining up for a federal bailout.

This hour, On Point: California, virtually bankrupt — and what comes next.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from Culver City, Calif., is Joe Matthews, senior fellow at the New America Foundation, for which he writes the Blockbuster Democracy blog. A fourth-generation Californian, he’s a contributing writer for the Opinion pages of the Los Angeles Times and a former reporter at the paper. He’s the author of “The People’s Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy.”

From Northridge, Calif., we’re joined by Sandy Banks, longtime reporter, editor, and now columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

And from Sacramento we’re joined by Bill Lockyer, California state treasurer. A Democrat, he served as attorney general of California from 1999 to 2006, and prior to that served 25 years in the state legislature.

More links:

The Los Angeles Times today reports that California is bracing for “brutal budget cuts.”  In an analysis piece yesterday, the Times’ Michael Finnegan wrote that voters share the blame for the state’s dysfunction.

In today’s Washington Post, columnist George Will writes of “the coming California bailout,” and notes approvingly that the Orange County Register editorialized against all six of the ballot measures voted upon this week.

In his latest LA Times opinion piece, “A vote for more votes in California,” our guest Joe Matthews argues for electoral reform in the state.

It may be beautiful, but everybody knows marriage isn’t easy.

Who pays the bills? Who works or stays home? Who unloads the dishwasher?

So what about gay marriage? Gay partnerships?

Yesterday, California was ringing with gay wedding bells, on its first full day of legal gay marriage. But gay marriage is not new anymore. Civil unions and long-term gay commitments have been around even longer.

So how does it work, day to day, down in the weeds, when it’s not “his and hers” but “his and his” or “hers and hers”?

This hour, On Point: Gay marriage, and how it actually works.

- Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Esther Rothblum, professor of women’s studies at San Diego State University and co-author of a new study on same-sex couples in Vermont.

Nanette Gartrell, professor of psychiatry at University of California at San Francisco. She has been researching lesbian families for 22 years.

Joe Kort, a practicing psychotherapist who runs gay men’s therapy and sexuality groups. He is author of “10 Smart Things Gay Men Can Do To Improve Their Lives.”

For much of the country, it felt like a bolt from the blue. Last week, giant California gave a green light to gay marriage.

California’s high court, in a 4-3 ruling, said civil union rights were not enough. Gay Californians — and those from anywhere else who barrel west to the Golden State — are entitled, said the court, to marriage.

San Francisco celebrated. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger signed on. There are implications for the whole country. Legally. Politically. But the battle’s not over.

This hour, On Point: California’s big move on gay marriage.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Crystal Carreon, courts reporter for the Sacramento Bee.

Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a gay rights advocacy group.

Brian Brown, executive director for the California chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes the state’s high court ruling.

Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor and legal analyst at Slate magazine.

Douglas Kmiec, professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Fires — big wildfires — are as natural as wind and rain and sunshine in Southern California. But there’s nothing natural about the giant human populations that now live in Southern California’s burning hills — or did live there until more than half a million were ordered out this week in the teeth of the inferno.

Endless suburbs and changing climate and shrinking water sources are pushing boundaries in California and across much of the southern United States — from dry Atlanta to Phoenix to San Diego. And this is where American growth is supposed to come.

This hour, On Point: big fires, the California Dream, and Sunbelt sustainability.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Ed Joyce, enivironmental reporter for NPR affiliate KPBS in San Diego.

Jon Keeley, research scientist with the United States Geological Survey, expert on wildfire and California ecology.

Charles Redman, director of the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University.