Governor pulls out 11th-hour surprises

This had been Sacramento’s lost year, a stretch marked by a budget meltdown and hyper-partisan rancor, mass veto threats and mounting public distrust of state government as usual.

But as the curtain dropped, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger performed as he has for half a dozen years in office: predictably unpredictable.

After threatening a mass veto to spur a big water deal, the governor reversed course, revved up his ballpoint pen and signed a surprising slate of legislation. It included bills he had vetoed in the past and a flurry of measures that steered sharply away from the socially conservative Republican base the governor has rarely embraced.

He outraged conservative Christians by approving a special day of recognition for slain gay rights icon Harvey Milk. He crossed the powerful National Rifle Assn. by signing stricter new rules for ammunition sales. To the ire of anti-tax groups, he backed a $2.3-billion Medi-Cal funding bill. Schwarzenegger even went along with measures he once ridiculed, including a ban on amputating cow tails and creating an official blueberry commission.

And in the final hours, the GOP governor backed down from his threat to kill scores of measures if lawmakers failed to forge a landmark deal to fix California’s water problems.

Instead, legislative leaders agreed to press forward in the coming days, appearing eager to prove that big things still can happen inside the gold-domed Capitol of the Golden State.

Heading into Schwarzenegger’s final year in office, his decision to forgo a mass veto “will be helpful” during the continuing water talks and beyond, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said. “It would have set a very negative tone.”

But while the governor won concessions and a bit of compromise at the bargaining table, all sides remained far enough apart on key details that any potential water deal could yet unravel -- as such attempts have often done in the past.

Republicans say it’s their top priority. Without it, “a candid assessment of the year’s legislative output would probably be that it was modest,” said Assembly GOP leader Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo).

Meanwhile, some critics suggested that Schwarzenegger’s brief bill-signing spree into the late hours Sunday was a tactical move to coax backing for his coveted water package.

“We think maybe he is trading votes on given bills to line up votes” for water, said Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, which opposed the ammo bill.

Aaron McLear, the governor’s spokesman, said Schwarzenegger calls them as he sees them, and the veto threat helped prod the Legislature “to focus on water, which is exactly what they did.”

In all, the governor’s overall performance virtually mirrored his past ratio of bills signed and vetoed. He approved 696 bills and vetoed 257 this year. By signing 73% of the bills on his desk, Schwarzenegger virtually matched his average since coming to office and exceeded the 65% he recorded last year amid a contentious budget standoff.

Even with lawmakers pleased that a year’s worth of work wasn’t lost to a mass veto, the reviews were far from charitable from some corners of the state.

Dan Schnur, executive director of USC’s Jesse Unruh Institute of Politics, characterized the joint output of the Legislature and the governor as tepid at best in a deficit-racked year that was even worse.

“Even the Clippers are going to win a few games this year, but that doesn’t make it a successful season,” Schnur said.

Though signings outpaced vetoes by more than 2 to 1, the governor proved he’s not afraid to say no. During his six years in office, Schwarzenegger has vetoed nearly twice as many bills as Ronald Reagan did in eight years: 1,673 versus 843.

Among this year’s casualties was AB 2 by Assemblyman Hector De La Torre (D-Los Angeles), which would have halted the insurance industry practice of canceling patients’ coverage after they run up large medical bills.

Dev GnanaDev, president of the California Medical Assn., said Schwarzenegger’s veto told Californians that “insurance company profits are more important than their access to healthcare.”

Insurance firms and business leaders countered that the bill proposed unnecessary regulation and would have hurt the state’s economic recovery.

Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank) lamented Schwarzenegger’s rejection of his AB 64, which would have boosted new renewable-energy projects to help the state reach a 33% goal. “The governor has destroyed a landmark compromise,” he said.

The Humane Society of the United States, meanwhile, chided Schwarzenegger for demonstrating a “schizophrenic record” on animal protection measures by vetoing AB 241 to combat puppy mills.

But the group also expressed delight over Schwarzenegger’s signing of SB 135 by Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), the dairy cow tail-docking bill the governor ridiculed during the summer budget battle.

“We believe these actions speaker louder than words,” said Gene Baur, president of Farm Sanctuary, which helped champion the ban.

Meanwhile, the governor demonstrated that he can lean left on social issues. He signed two of the year’s most controversial bills, both written by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). SB 572 honors Harvey Milk. SB 54 recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other states before California’s voter-approved ban last November on gay marriage.

Schwarzenegger, who vetoed a Harvey Milk bill last year, won plaudits from gay rights groups and catcalls from the far right. Randy Thomasson, president of the family values group SaveCalifornia.com, called the governor’s action appalling, saying Milk “in no way was a good role model for impressionable schoolchildren.”

The governor argued in a statement that the second measure clears up uncertainty over same-sex couples married out of state before last November’s passage of Proposition 8.

Gun groups, meanwhile, assailed the governor’s approval of AB 962 by Assemblyman Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles). It requires sellers of handgun ammunition, starting in 2011, to keep a log of sales information, including the buyer’s thumbprint, signature and driver’s license data.

“We think it was a devastating mistake,” said Paredes of Gun Owners of California, which boasts a membership of 30,000.

Ammunition buyers, he said, are now “going to be treated like registered sex offenders.”

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patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

eric.bailey@latimes.com

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BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX

A flurry of activity

Here are a dozen bills of interest acted on by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday.

Bills signed by the governor would:

* Give hospitals access to $2 billion in federal funds by imposing a “provider” fee that would make them eligible for the money as subsidies for Medi-Cal, California’s health insurance program for the poor. AB 1383, Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento).

* Reduce the prison population by up to 25,000 inmates to address prison overcrowding. SBX3 18, Sen. Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego).

* Create a pilot program in four counties, including Los Angeles, that will permit first-time DUI offenders to drive only if they pass a test on a breath-testing device installed on every vehicle they own. AB 91, Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles).

* Require sellers of handgun ammunition, starting in 2011, to keep a log of sales information including the buyer’s thumbprint, signature and driver’s license data. AB 962, Assemblyman Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles).

* Proclaim gay rights activist Harvey Milk’s May 22 birthday as a day of recognition and encourage schools to consider commemorating his life. SB 54, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco).

* Prohibit elective cosmetic surgery unless the patient first is cleared by a physical examination. AB 1116, Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto).

* Make it a crime, punishable by a fine of up to $50,000, for a person to take and sell unauthorized photos of celebrities and others or their children in “personal or familial activity.” AB 524, Assemblywoman Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles.)

* Prohibit political candidates from paying their spouses or domestic partners to work on their campaigns. SB 739, Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks).

The governor vetoed bills that would have:

* Prohibited completion of the 710 Freeway from the edge of Alhambra to Pasadena using a surface route, which would have forced the extension by tunnel. SB 545, Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles).

* Created new oversight for clinics that provide in vitro fertilization, in response to controversy over the process having been used to provide a Southern California woman with octuplets. SB 647, Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino).

* Extended the state’s beverage recycling fee to additional containers, including fruit and vegetable juices and soy-based drinks. SB 402, Sen. Lois Wolk (D-Davis).

* Created a pilot program of nutrition and physical activity standards in some day care centers and evaluated their effect. AB 627, Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica).

Source: Los Angeles Times