Quotas on State Boards Proposed : Legislation: Increases proposed for participation of women and minorities. The topic has become an issue in gubernatorial campaign.

Adding fuel to an already hot political issue, two bills moving through the Legislature call for substantial increases in the number of women and minorities on appointed state boards and commissions.

Earlier this week, the Assembly approved, by a straight party line 41-30 vote, a bill by Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) that would require the next governor to appoint women to half the positions on more than 400 state boards. The boards range from the powerful Public Utilities Commission to the obscure Board of Barber Examiners.

The Senate voted 26 to 9 Wednesday for a less restrictive bill by Sen. Diane E. Watson (D-Los Angeles) that would set ethnic and gender balance in appointments on boards and commissions as a goal for the next governor, but would not mandate any quotas.

The chances of the Watson bill becoming law are considered better than the Waters bill, although it is not known if Gov. George Deukmejian would sign either one.

The use of ethnic or gender quotas in filling state jobs recently became an issue in the governor’s race. Democratic nominee Dianne Feinstein pledged in late May that she would fill half of all jobs in her administration with women and appoint the same percentage of minorities as there are in the general population.

Campaign spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers denied Thursday that Feinstein advocates quotas, saying that her proposal was for “goals that encourage the hiring of qualified women and minorities in state government.”

But Myers welcomed the passage of the two bills in the Legislature. “It reflects support for Dianne’s position,” she said. “This is a substantial, serious and workable proposal. It lends credibility to the notion that this is an idea whose time has come. . . .”

However, Republican strategists--and, privately, some Democrats--have said that Feinstein slipped badly by leaving herself open to the charge that she would use quotas in state hiring.

“If they stick with that position, they’re vulnerable with the broad base of the public,” said Senate Minority Leader Ken Maddy (R-Fresno). “I don’t think that even most women think that women should automatically get 50% of the jobs. They think competence ought to be the first criteria.”

Sen. Pete Wilson, Feinstein’s Republican opponent, has hit Feinstein hard on the use of quotas. Calling her proposal a “terrible idea,” Wilson said last week: “The very best: That should be the criteria and no other.”

Wilson’s campaign said Thursday that the Waters and Watson bills will help to underscore the candidates’ differing positions on the issue. “It adds to the debate,” said press secretary Bill Livingston. “There are certain issues that become determining issues to strongly differentiate the two candidates--for example, taxes. And this will also be a major differentiating issue. It shows two very different visions of California’s future--and the one with quotas would be very divisive and unworkable.”

While Feinstein would seek gender and ethnic balance in appointments ranging from judges to secretaries, the two bills passed by the Legislature deal only with state boards and commissions. According to a study by the California Board and Commission Project, women account for more than 50% of the state’s population but constitute only 27.6% of the 3,044 members of state boards and commissions.

However, the number of women is much higher on such boards as the Commission on the Status of Women, the Board of Registered Nurses and the Psychiatric Technician Examiners. Under the Waters bill, those groups would be exempted from the gender balance requirement.

“My legislation is necessary in order to open up opportunities for women to be a part of the decision-making process in the state of California,” Waters said Thursday. “Those boards set policy and do oversight and women don’t serve on them commensurate with their percentage of the population.”

But Republican legislators, who voted as a body against the Waters bill, strongly disagree.

“I think it’s totally wrong when any special-interest group wants to get benefits for themselves,” said Assemblywoman Carol Bentley (R-San Diego). “I know that if I were ever appointed to one of those boards, I would never want there to be even a hint that the only reason I was appointed was because I’m a woman.”

Bentley said that the problem is not that women are discriminated against but that they simply don’t know about the opportunities available to serve on boards. She said Gov. George Deukmejian has received more than 13,000 applications for state commissions. But only 3,100, or 24%, came from women, she said, adding that the governor actually has appointed a higher percentage of women applicants (42%) than male applicants (34%).