Brody's Notes... California Governor set to Veto 700 Bills including one honouring slain LGBT Activist Harvey Milk

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

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By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Oct 9 | California's General Assembly and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger are at a political impasse over the future of an overhaul of the state's water system as part of the legislative package of some 700 bills needing the governor's signature. The deadline is Sunday at midnight and the governor has made a veiled threat to issue a mass veto unless lawmakers reach agreement on an overhaul of the state's water system. A mass veto, legislative leaders said, would be both "silly" and inexcusable, and it would effectively wipe out nearly all the work done by the Legislature the past 10 months.

"Water is an extremely important issue, but the ... bills from the Assembly that are on the governor's desk represent a multitude of issues that are very important to Californians," said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista (Los Angeles County), after a meeting with the governor and other legislative leaders Tuesday. She added, "A mass vetoing is never an appropriate use of his veto power. 

Bass and state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, both said they were optimistic that the governor would not issue a mass veto, and Steinberg called the threat "silly." But Aaron McLear, a Schwarzenegger spokesman, would not say flatly that it was off the table.

"We'll consider all the bills on their merits, but right now we're focused on pushing the Legislature toward an agreement on water," McLear said.

The Bills on the governor's desk range from mundane to massive - bills that would provide $400 million owed to 500 schools in the state, increase federal funding to hospitals by $2.3 billion and create stricter rules for mortgage lenders, among hundreds of others. More controversial proposals include designating a day to honor slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and restrictions on the sale of ammunition, and a phasing out of gun shows at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. 

Milk was a gay activist who was assassinated in 1978. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. During his 11 months in office he sponsored a gay rights bill and helped to defeat a proposition that would have seen openly gay and lesbian teachers sacked.
Nearly 40,000 California residents signed the petition for the commemorative day. It would not be an official holiday, but would encourage schools to remember Milk's actions. Before the release of the film bearing Milk's name, Schwarzenegger vetoed an almost identical bill, saying the activist was not well-known enough.

Since the end of the legislative session, Schwarzenegger has signed only three bills: deferring some payments for education to help the state's cash crisis, reinstating money for children's health insurance and creating a day honoring Vietnam War veterans.

The governor may already have signed or vetoed bills and is holding onto them, but his spokesman McLear said there would be no announcement until the bills are "finalized," which means either sent back to the Legislature with a veto or to the secretary of state with a signature.

Legislative leaders also could reconvene their houses and pull all the bills back from the governor's desk and submit them at a later date, which Steinberg said Schwarzenegger has brought up in conversations. Both he and Bass said they would not take that action.