EDITORIAL GOING GREEN A HYBRID FOR EVERY POL.

IT'S easy being green -- when you're a member of the California Legislature.

While most of us contemplating the leap to hybrid cars have to consider the cost of upgrading -- and the possibility of shifting to a smaller car -- legislators have no such concerns.

Their green is funded by your green.

To strut their environmentally conscious bona fides, some 39 Assembly members, up from 27 a year ago, and 13 senators, up from 10, have made the jump to hybrids.

But the move hasn't come at much personal expense.

For most hard-working, taxpaying people, we're talking about small, ultra-fuel-efficient Priuses.

But for the ruling class in Sacramento, the most popular hybrid is the behemoth Toyota Highlander sport utility vehicle, which gets about as many miles per gallon as a regular sedan.

As for the cost, that's no problem for the pols. Assembly members have each been allotted an extra $6,000 toward the purchase of a state hybrid. Going green is never so easy as when someone else foots the bill.