Assembly GOP Unveils 50-Bill ’86 ‘Platform’

Assembly Republican leaders unveiled a laundry list of legislative proposals Tuesday that they hope will serve as a political platform to woo voters in 1986.

Assembly GOP Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale called the program of 50 bills “a blueprint for a better California,” but he acknowledged that few of the measures are likely to win passage during this session in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

“These priorities underscore why Republicans should be elected and why Republicans should become the majority party in the Assembly,” Nolan said.

The GOP agenda corresponds in some cases with legislation sought by Republican Gov. George Deukmejian and includes proposals already being carried by Democrats. It touches on the major state issues of the day, including crime, jobs, education, toxics and campaign reform.

“Our Republican vision foresees a California with a bright economic future, a California where the quality of life is unparalleled, a California where the political system is just and fair,” Nolan said.

Included in the package are bills to:

- Implement the death penalty law that was approved by voters in 1978.

- Allow people to defend themselves “with force if necessary” against attacks while on public transportation and at work.

- Refund to taxpayers state money above the amount needed for a “prudent” reserve.

- Impose a flat, simple income tax with increased family exemptions that retains the interest deduction for residential mortgages.

- Establish a tax-deferred savings plan for first-time home buyers modeled on the individual retirement account system. People who have not bought homes could set aside money each year and not pay taxes on it.

- Give teachers permission to use corporal punishment to discipline students.

- Encourage the expansion of private child care centers by offering tax credits.

- Require welfare recipients to do community service work in exchange for their benefits and make prison inmates work to offset the cost of their incarceration.

- Declare English the official language of California and limit benefits that can be received by illegal aliens.

- Toughen penalties for crimes against children, the elderly and the blind.

Nolan said that he hopes to win approval of some of the GOP proposals during the 1985-86 session and that he will continue to work for passage of the rest in future years.

“It’s not something that has to be accomplished within a certain legislative session,” he said.

Assemblyman Larry Stirling (R-San Diego), vice chairman of the Assembly GOP caucus, said after the press conference that the agenda is both a legislative program and a political platform.

“It’s in effect saying, ‘If the Republicans were the majority, this is what we would do,’ ” Stirling said. “We’re going to try to do it anyway.

“Ideally we would put these bills into law and take credit for them, but we’re not the majority. So all we can tell you is what we would do if we were the majority,” he said.