Gov. Can’t End Cal-OSHA: Judge

Superior Court Judge Roger Warren ruled today that Gov. George Deukmejian cannot terminate the state’s worker safety program by himself without legislative action.

Warren said Deukmejian’s February letter notifying the federal government to take over the California Occupational Safety and Health Act program “is null, void and without legal effect.” Deukmejian, in his proposed 1987-88 budget issued last January, proposed terminating the Cal-OSHA program to save $8 million and let the federal government take over safety and health inspections of private workplaces.