Governor to Submit Corrected Plan for a Cabinet-Level Toxics Agency

Gov. George Deukmejian said Wednesday that he will revive his embattled toxics reorganization proposal and ask the Legislature to give quick approval to a corrected plan later this summer.

Turning aside charges that his initial proposal to create a department of waste management would have weakened regulation of hazardous chemicals, Deukmejian said, “At no time has there ever been any intention to reduce or to weaken any existing law. That has always been made clear from the very beginning.”

Speaking to reporters at a Los Angeles press conference, Deukmejian said his revised plan to create a cabinet-level department to regulate toxic pollutants will be similar to the proposal that was rejected by the Assembly last month.

But flaws in the first plan, which Assembly Democrats had charged would undermine state enforcement efforts, will be corrected in the new version, he said.

Will Submit Plan in August

Deukmejian said he will submit the plan to the Legislature in August and ask lawmakers to approve it by September. He indicated he will ask the Legislature to expedite normal procedures so the plan can take effect in December, his original target.

Otherwise, the plan could not take effect until February. In either case, creation of the department would bolster Deukmejian’s record on the politically potent issue of toxics before next year’s gubernatorial election.

The Republican governor’s first proposal came under heavy criticism after Health and Welfare Secretary David Swoap acknowledged that there were “drafting errors” in the plan. Swoap eventually proposed correcting the flaws with a 62-page follow-up bill.

The Democratic-controlled Assembly rejected that offer and vetoed the governor’s plan on a strict party-line vote. Lawmakers argued that the plan’s flaws would weaken enforcement of major toxic regulations, including laws governing water quality, underground storage of chemicals and contaminated farm runoff water.

Charge of Partisanship

The governor, in turn, charged that the Assembly action was motivated by partisan concerns, not the need to clean up toxic wastes.

“It was determined there were some mistakes in the statutory language (of the plan), and we gave the Assembly our pledge that we would be very pleased to make sure that those gaps are filled in a trailer bill and follow-up legislation,” Deukmejian told reporters. “They didn’t want to see that. They chose to reject the plan out of hand.”

After the vote, Senate Democrats suggested that the governor’s deadline could be met by incorporating the plan into a bill that has already been introduced.

But Deukmejian apparently has rejected that suggestion. He told reporters he will again use the same special legislative mechanism for reorganization that prevents the Legislature from amending his plan.

Under that procedure, either house of the Legislature can veto the plan; otherwise it takes effect after the Legislature has been in session for 60 days.

Legislature’s Schedule

The Legislature, under its current schedule, will meet for a month during August and September and then return in January. Given that timetable, the reorganization could take effect around the first of February.

But Larry Thomas, Deukmejian’s press secretary, said the governor will ask the Legislature to speed approval of the plan because it is not substantially different from the original proposal.