American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (HR 503) which would prohibit the slaughter for human consumption and the trade and transport of horse flesh and live horses intended for human consumption. Attempt to sell natural gas with a California ballot initiative In November 2008, California voters rejected a referendum by a 60% to 40% margin regarding natural gas. Pickens owned Clean Energy Fuels Corporation, a natural gas fueling station company which was the primary backer of the November 2008 Proposition 10 on California's ballot. Much of the measure's sale of $5 billion in general fund bonds to provide alternative energy rebates and incentives ($9.8 billion after interest) would have benefitted Pickens' company to the exclusion of almost all other clean-vehicle fuels and technology. Philanthropy Pickens gave more than $700 million away to charity, of which nearly $500 million was donated to Oklahoma State University. Pickens was among the billionaires who have made The Giving Pledge, a commitment to give away half of his wealth for charitable purposes. Donations to Oklahoma State University Pickens was a major financial contributor to his alma mater, the Stillwater campus of Oklahoma State University (OSU). Through his contributions, Pickens spearheaded an initiative to create an athletic village just north of the existing campus. In order to do so, hundreds of houses were acquired by the OSU administration, one via eminent domain, and demolished using Pickens' contributions. Pickens' gift remains the largest donation to a university's athletic program in collegiate history. His total contributions to OSU came to over $1 billion. Over $265 million, or 26.5%, of his donations were towards athletics. Pickens also made substantial academic gifts to Oklahoma State University, particularly to the Boone Pickens School of Geology, which is named for him. On December 30, 2005, Pickens made a $165 million gift to Oklahoma State University. The New York Times reported that "the money spent less than an hour on December 30 in the account of the university's charity, O.S.U. Cowboy Golf Inc., before it was invested in a hedge fund controlled by Pickens, BP Capital Management." Pickens, who was on the board of the O.S.U. Cowboy Golf waived any management fees for the OSU monies. All profits of the fund go to enlarging the OSU gift. The gift is intended to help fund an upgrade of the football stadium and construction of an athletic village but sparked controversy because OSU planned to use