Court Reversal of Governor on Job Safety Told

A state appellate court Monday ruled against Gov. George Deukmejian and ordered restoration of the Cal/OSHA worker safety program that he had dismantled, according to the lawyer who led the case against the governor.

Ralph Abascal, attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance, which is suing Deukmejian and the Department of Industrial Relations on behalf of a group of farm workers and labor groups, said: “The court clerk called and told us that we won.”

Deukmejian Administration officials said that their lawyers also had reported that the governor had lost the case. A Deukmejian spokesman said the governor would have no comment until a ruling is officially announced and the opinion is reviewed.

Decision Due Today

A court official would only say that the three-judge panel had reached a decision and that the opinion will be formally released today. She would not confirm the verdict.

It is the court’s practice to inform participating attorneys of its decisions one day before the rulings are publicly announced.

Abascal said he was told that the state 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento had granted his petition ordering Industrial Relations Director Ronald T. Rinaldi to restore the Cal/OSHA program to the level at which it was operating before Deukmejian virtually wiped it out with a budget veto last July.

Deukmejian’s efforts to eliminate Cal/OSHA, the state’s version of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, began in January when he refused to provide funding for the agency in his proposed state budget.

The governor reasoned that the program could be taken over by the federal agency, thus eliminating what he said was a duplication of effort. He maintained that the federal government would do as good a job as California had been doing.

Abascal, who bypassed trial courts and took the case directly to the court of appeal, argued that Deukmejian’s veto of a $7-million appropriation for Cal/OSHA was illegal because it constituted an effort to circumvent the will of the Legislature in a way that exceeded the governor’s veto authority.

His case received a boost two weeks ago from the California Supreme Court when it ruled that Deukmejian had exceeded his line-item veto authority in selectively deleting funds from a welfare program. Abascal closely patterned his arguments in favor of restoring Cal/OSHA along the lines expressed by the state Supreme Court, whose new conservative majority, ironically, was appointed by Deukmejian.

“What this suit really was about is the separation of powers. The governor had usurped the Legislature’s prerogative by legislating through the blue pencil (veto),” Abascal said.

The labor lawyer said he had not seen a copy of the opinion himself.

Rinaldi, a member of Deukmejian’s cabinet, said he had been told by state lawyers that the court ruled against the governor. Neither he nor other Administration officials would comment on the decision, saying they had not seen the opinion. But assuming the lawyers’ reports are true, he said, “Obviously, I’m disappointed. . . . We’ve maintained that the governor acted properly and within his authority.”

As for the possibility of an appeal to the California Supreme Court, Rinaldi said, “I imagine we’ll be conferring with our lawyers over the next step, if any.”

Abascal said it would take months to restore Cal/OSHA to its status before the governor’s veto.

“The Administration has to start from scratch. They let all the employees go. Some of the Cal/OSHA workers went to other state agencies, others to private employment,” the labor lawyer said.

In the Legislature, an aide to Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Hawthorne), chairman of the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment, said the committee plans to hold hearings as quickly as possible on how to get Cal/OSHA going again.

Defenders of Cal/OSHA said the state’s program for enforcement of industrial safety standards was much tougher than federal efforts. The rate of industrial accidents in California are among the lowest in the nation, they noted.

Last June, Democratic legislators, heavily supported by labor unions, restored $7 million to finance Cal/OSHA in a way that they hoped would be veto-proof. They drew encouragement from major employer organizations who traditionally have supported Deukmejian’s policies. Employers maintained that if Cal/OSHA were to be eliminated, their cost for workers compensation would increase substantially.

Deukmejian vetoed the money anyway. The action set off a multi-pronged legal attack against the veto in suits filed in both state and federal courts.

Meanwhile, state Cal/OSHA employees either were laid off or left voluntarily for other jobs and the state’s role was largely taken by the U.S. Department of Labor. But a U.S. District Court issued an order prohibiting the Department of Labor from further taking over the state agency pending resolution of the suit filed by Abascal.