The State - News from July 1, 1987

A state judge refused for the second time to block today’s scheduled dismantling of the state’s worker safety program, saying the governor’s decision is a “classic political question.” San Francisco Superior Court Judge Roy Wonder ruled that the courts have no authority to step into the battle over Gov. George Deukmejian’s plan to eliminate the California job safety agency, called Cal/OSHA. Federal regulators will take control of worker safety regulation in the private sector at the start of business today. “The proposal of a budget by the governor to the Legislature and the Legislature’s response to that proposal is a classic political question with which the courts will not interfere,” Wonder wrote. He rejected a suit by a coalition of four labor groups, headed by Professional Engineers and Assemblyman Dick Floyd (D-Hawthorne), to block the move. Wonder had rejected a similar suit April 22 that sought an immediate order barring the governor from putting the program into force.