Governor Hits Democrats in Vetoing Bill on Toxics Agency

Accusing Assembly Democrats of playing “political games,” Gov. George Deukmejian on Saturday vetoed a bill to coordinate state efforts to deal with toxic wastes that was sent to his desk as a rival to his own toxic reorganization plan.

In his regular weekly radio address, the governor said: “We negotiated and compromised in good faith, and made an agreement which they (Assembly Democrats) violated. They had three chances, and they struck out.”

The veto message said the bill failed in several respects to reflect a tentative compromise on the issue reached by the two sides in September of last year. Subsequently, the compromise fell apart in the lower house in a partisan dispute over an unrelated measure.

Previously, Assembly Democrats had rejected the Administration’s toxics reorganization proposal, saying that it contained serious flaws.

Brown’s Viewpoint

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) insisted that the bill sent to Deukmejian Thursday contained everything the governor wanted, plus a strong conflict-of-interest provision “to bar those being regulated from becoming the regulators.”

Now that it has been vetoed, however, the lower house leader said, the Democrats are ready to go back to the negotiating table for more discussions on a new toxic waste department.

But Brown added: “The governor must understand that he has to meet us halfway. We were elected by, and represent, just as many citizens as elected him. A democracy will never work where either branch of government attempts to dictate.”

A governor’s press aide said: “The fact is that the Assembly Democrats’ idea of a compromise is for the governor to give on every point. We have little enthusiasm for reopening the negotiations considering they broke their agreement and the potential is there for them to break a subsequent agreement.”

Bradley Disappointed

Meanwhile, in a speech to the Planning and Conservation League in Sacramento, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Deukmejian’s expected gubernatorial opponent, said he was “disappointed” by the veto. Bradley also charged that Deukmejian has failed to provide “reasonable and effective leadership” in the dispute over a proposed toxics department.

The veto means the state’s toxic waste cleanup and control efforts temporarily will continue to rest in the hands of overlapping state agencies instead of being centralized in the new department that both plans envisioned.

The present structure has drawn criticism from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. It also is blamed by critics for prompting an FBI investigation into the awarding of toxic waste cleanup contracts.

The vetoed Democratic reorganization plan would have placed a new Department of Waste Management, along with other departments that deal with air and water quality, under a strengthened Environmental Affairs Agency.

Governor’s Proposal

The governor’s proposal is similar, except that the director of the new toxics department would serve in his cabinet. And some of the state agencies that regulate air and water quality would remain outside its jurisdiction.

In addition, there are substantial differences over the makeup of a proposed waste commission that would be created to arbitrate disputes.

In his radio speech, Deukmejian said: “I want the people to know that despite this setback, we will continue to do the very best job we can with the tools at hand.

“While progress has not come as quickly as we had hoped, nevertheless, California today has its most aggressive toxic enforcement and cleanup program in state history.”