Roberti Calls for Ballot Initiative to Restore Cal/OSHA

Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) called on voters Saturday to support a ballot initiative to restore Cal/OSHA, the state worker safety agency gutted by Gov. George Deukmejian earlier this month.

Turning to the initiative process out of frustration with Deukmejian’s policies, the Democratic leader said he would join with labor unions, health advocates and environmentalists to revive the “desperately needed” state inspection program.

“It is now up to the voters of California to right this terrible wrong,” Roberti said in a radio address broadcast by stations throughout the state. “I believe that the governor and his supporters in the Legislature have vastly underestimated California’s passion for protection of its health.”

Cal/OSHA, formally known as the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, was dismantled by the Republican governor this month when he vetoed $7 million in funds for the agency.

Now Federal Responsibility

By his action, Deukmejian turned over responsibility for job safety in private work places to the federal government. A drastically reduced Cal/OSHA will continue to have responsibility for the safety of state, city and county workers.

Roberti and other critics of the governor’s veto say reliance on the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration will mean less protection for workers than under the California agency, which had been considered one of the toughest in the nation.

“The governor believes that the federal government should be responsible for California work place safety,” Roberti said. “The governor is wrong. Dead wrong.”

Unlike Cal/OSHA, the federal government will not enforce state laws that control the use of many toxic chemicals, that prohibit the use of the short-handled hoe by farm workers and that protect certain construction workers in dangerous jobs, opponents of the governor say.

Roberti also said federal inspectors take an average of 14 days to respond to accidents, compared to two days for Cal/OSHA.

Deukmejian and federal officials, however, contend that worker safety will not suffer as result of the switch to the federal program, which is already operating in many other states.

“Despite what Sen. Roberti says on the subject, the sky is not falling,” said Tom Beermann, a spokesman for the governor. “Cal/OSHA will continue to protect public (employee) safety and the federal government will protect worker safety in the private sector.”

Inability to Accomplish Goals

Roberti’s decision to promote an initiative to restore Cal/OSHA demonstrates the Democrats’ inability to accomplish their goals when confronted by a gubernatorial veto.

Even though they control a majority of the votes in both houses of the Legislature, the Democrats were unable to muster the two-thirds vote needed to override Deukmejian’s Cal/OSHA veto. The Democrats control 24 of 40 seats in the Senate. In the vote to override Deukmejian’s veto, Republican senators stood firm behind the governor.

In an interview after the radio address, Roberti expressed his frustration with many of the governor’s recent actions, including his gutting of Cal/OSHA and his determination to refund the 1937006964taxpayers rather than spend it on education and other state programs.

‘Stalemate on So Many Fronts’

“It just seems with the stalemate on so many fronts with the governor, you’ve got to abandon what you believe in or go to the people,” Roberti said. “What else can we do?”

In addition to the proposed Cal/OSHA ballot measure, it appears likely that the voters will be asked next year to settle other differences between Democrats and the governor, including whether California’s surplus should be refunded to taxpayers and whether the state should relax its constitutional spending limit.

Roberti said union leaders are planning an initiative drive that would put the worker safety issue on the ballot in either June or November, 1988. He said he expects the ballot proposal to have the backing of a large number of interest groups, including health care professionals, environmentalists, law enforcement and some business leaders.

‘Protect Our Health’

“I am asking citizens from all sectors of California to now join in a shared desire to protect our work places--to protect our health,” Roberti said in his radio speech. “I am asking those from business and labor, from law enforcement, from environmental groups and from health and safety to restore our desperately needed Cal/OSHA program.”

Roberti’s address was his first attempt to counter Deukmejian’s weekly radio talk with a broadcast of his own. Over the last several years, Deukmejian has taken to the airwaves on most Saturdays, often making major announcements and winning newspaper headlines unchallenged by his rivals.

But this month, Democrats launched their own radio offensive on Saturday mornings, beginning over the last several weeks with speeches by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco).

Rejected Proposal

Deukmejian, in his address, rejected a proposal by Brown to refund the state’s $1.1-billion surplus through a sales tax reduction in December.

The governor has called for a 15% state income tax rebate, with a maximum of $150 for individuals and $300 for couples. But Brown, arguing that an income tax refund would give the most benefit to wealthier taxpayers, said a sales tax reduction would be a fairer way to distribute the money.

Deukmejian, in dismissing Brown’s proposal, argued that a sales tax reduction could actually provide a larger tax break to the richest Californians.

“Under (Brown’s) proposal, a wealthy Californian could, for example, schedule the purchase of a luxury $100,000 sports car and several $1,500 suits and pay only half the sales tax he would normally pay--for a tax break of over $3,000,” Deukmejian said.

The governor’s reference to autos and suits apparently was a jab at the San Francisco Democrat, who is well known for his wardrobe of expensive clothes and his collection of fancy sports cars.

“If the suit fits, wear it,” said Beermann, the governor’s spokesman.