Deukmejian Sends Lawmakers His $12.1-Million ‘Children’s Initiative’

Gov. George Deukmejian on Thursday sent to the Legislature his “children’s initiative,” a $12.1-million collection of new and expanded efforts that he said would help assure a brighter future for California’s young people.

Topping the list of proposed expenditures, Deukmejian asked for $7.5 million to double the number of state narcotics agents from 65 to 130 to intensify the fight against illegal drugs.

Deukmejian’s program ranges from training day-care workers in the detection and prevention of health risks in children to expanding alcohol and drug abuse educational programs and establishing local teen-age prostitution prevention centers.

In addition, he called for an extra $80,000 to finance increased research into the causes and prevention of the mysterious killer sudden infant death syndrome, also known as “crib death.” Currently, the state spends less than $100,000 a year on such research.

First outlined during his reelection campaign last autumn and contained in the new state budget he proposed to the Legislature, Deukmejian said the “children’s initiative” strengthens a “strong commitment to the young people of California” he had established during his first term.

Much of the proposal would expand existing efforts, such as adding $50,000 to an existing $320,000-a-year foster grandparent child-care project. It also includes a new $1-million appropriation to pay for a law enacted three years ago, but never funded, that establishes health-care training for day-center workers.

But a spokeswoman for the Children’s Lobby, an advocacy organization for youth issues, said the additional child-care money for the foster grandparents falls far short of the actual need at a time when some school centers are in jeopardy of closing and others cannot afford costly liability insurance.

“When we see this is the governor’s initiative for children, it seems to be a very sad statement as far as child care is concerned,” she said.

Representatives of the state Department of Finance said that the teen-age prostitution prevention centers likely would be located in Los Angeles, including Hollywood, and San Francisco. Services would include offering runaways and others temporary housing, counseling and a crisis intervention telephone line. Deukmejian proposed $635,000 for the project.

On drug and alcohol abuse, the governor recommended expanding the “learn to say no” educational effort by $200,000 for such things as broadcast advertising, brochures and other materials. Currently, about $85,000 is spent on this program. He also would expand to about 10 unspecificed counties a “Friday Night Live” experimental project in Sacramento to educate youth against the dangers of drinking and driving.

In a further effort to crack down on parents who fail to pay child support, Deukmejian proposed that the Department of Social Services develop a statewide registry of such parents. When they sought to sell property, the department would put a lien on it until the support obligation was paid.

In other proposals, the governor called for intensified efforts to get at the sources of lead poisoning of children, expanding subsidized health assessments of children through 25 months of age instead of 13 months and establishment of a system that would provide “report cards” on the physical fitness and general health of students.