Brown Cinches a Victory on Seat Belts : Assembly Panel OKs His Bill, Including Mandatory Air Bags

SACRAMENTO — Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) dealt auto makers a blow Wednesday, convincing an Assembly committee to approve his bill to make seat belt use mandatory and to require that new cars sold in California be equipped with air bags or other automatic restraints.

The Assembly Transportation Committee, after more than four hours of often emotional testimony, approved Brown’s measure on an 8-3 vote, setting the stage for a confrontation with a rival, auto-industry-backed bill approved earlier this month by a Senate committee.

That bill, by Sen. John F. Foran (D-San Francisco), would simply require motorists to use their seat belts. Auto makers believe that it will help the industry avoid mandatory installation of air bags under a federal rule that would be triggered if states with two-thirds of the nation’s population pass seat belt laws.

Brown told the committee that his main objective was to make sure that California’s seat belt law does not help auto makers avoid air bags or other automatic crash protections.

Air bags would be in all cars today, the Speaker said, if auto makers “were as concerned about safety as they are about profits.”

But auto industry lobbyist Loren Smith said the Brown bill is tragically flawed by a provision that would revoke the mandatory seat belt requirement in the event the federal government throws out its air bag requirements.

The bill was written that way, according to Brown, to ensure that California is not counted among the states needed to trigger the federal rule.

More than anything else, the vote was a victory for the charismatic Brown, who celebrated his 51st birthday on Wednesday and has made his seat belt bill a personal crusade.

All eight committee votes, the bare majority needed for approval, came from Democratic members. According to legislative sources, Brown strongly suggested in private conversations with lawmakers that a defeat would be a personal embarrassment.

Brown’s lobbying campaign reportedly placed several Democratic committee members in a tough political position. Many have been lobbied by influential auto dealers in their districts who believe that the bill would hurt their businesses. At the same time, few reportedly wanted to risk going up against the Speaker after he had put his prestige on the line.

In past weeks, Brown boasted that there would be no compromise with the auto industry and characterized his as a classic David and Goliath battle: Brown versus the giant auto makers who have been fighting air bags for a decade. At the same time, he has played down the role large insurance companies played in drafting and lobbying for his measure.

Brown capped his public campaign Wednesday by climbing behind the wheel of a Mercedes Benz in front of television cameras to demonstrate how air bags work. Brown never flinched as the bag inflated with a loud bang. “I survived,” Brown proclaimed as he emerged from the sleek sedan.