SACRAMENTO FILE

Governor Scheduled a general news conference for today in Sacramento.

Signed into law two bills aimed at reducing public fear about the risk of contracting acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) through blood transfusions. The new statutes set up guidelines for blood screening tests and protect the privacy of people who take them. Assemblymen Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) and Art Agnos (D-San Francisco) sponsored the measures.

Assembly Floor Action:

Spousal Support: Approved and sent to the Senate on a 64-3 vote a bill (AB 150) to authorize divorce courts to require a spouse to set up a trust fund to continue support payments to the surviving spouse after death. The bill is authored by Assemblyman Alister McAlister (D-Fremont).

Rapid Transit: Approved and sent to the Senate on a 62-5 vote a bill (AB 76) to let the Southern California Rapid Transit District purchase buses by negotiation rather than by competitive bidding. The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Frank Vicencia (D-Bellflower).

Property Tax Increases: Approved and sent to the Senate on a 72-0 vote a bill (AB 13) by Roos to make permanent a moratorium on the use of property tax increases to pay for public pensions and local ongoing services such as libraries and zoos.

Miscellany Crack Down on Poachers: Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), who is running for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination next year, also is the author of a pending bill to appropriate $1 million to hire 18 more state fish and game wardens to crack down on poachers. Davis told a Capitol press conference that some poachers in California are making lots of money. He pointed to a picture of a large stack of elk antlers next to a new Cadillac owned by a San Francisco poacher who reportedly was grossing $11 million yearly when he was caught. Davis said the elk antlers are ground up into a powder that is shipped to Asia and sold as an aphrodisiac at a huge profit. In fact, Davis added, illegal poaching has become such a big business here that “California, from a sportsman’s viewpoint, has become a lousy place to hunt.”