3rd Time May Be the Charm for Rabbit Test Foes : Animal rights: Two activists were the impetus behind earlier bills to stop chemical experiments. Gov. Wilson has not said if he will sign AB 110.

Two Ventura County women who have led a fight for a new animal-rights bill that would restrict laboratory testing on live rabbits are hoping the third time will be the charm.

Beverlee McGrath and Dorothy Done, both of Oxnard, were the original impetus behind AB 110, which would ban the Draize test in California. In its most common form, the test places chemicals in the eyes of live rabbits to determine the toxicity of cosmetics ingredients.

After two unsuccessful campaigns, supporters pushed the bill through the Legislature last week. Gov. Pete Wilson is considering whether to sign or veto the bill. While some Wilson aides oppose the measure, he has said he hasn’t made his mind up.

“I never realized it was going to be so hard,” said McGrath, who returned to her Oxnard home last week after delivering an estimated 75,000 cards and letters from voters to the governor’s office in Sacramento.

“I’m thrilled, but I’m exhausted,” said Done in a recent interview.

The bill, introduced by Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria), is identical to one that the pair originated last year, except for removing felony provisions for violations. The 1990 bill passed both houses of the Assembly but was vetoed by then-Gov. George Deukmejian.

The previous year, the two women backed a bill that failed to pass in the Assembly.

“We didn’t know what we were doing,” Done said.

It wasn’t because they hadn’t done at least some of their homework. The two spent almost a year visiting cosmetics manufacturers, learning state and federal regulations and studying alternative lab tests, such as those using synthetic protein compounds.

But there were other considerations.

“You have to learn the legislative calendar,” McGrath said. “Then you have to learn the inside stuff, you know, where their wives shop, where they have lunch. When they leave their office, do they take the staircase or the elevator to go to the hearing room?

“I am very aggressive. I am fearless because I believe in what I’m doing,” she said. “I have no qualms about walking up to someone while they are having dinner and saying something to them.”

McGrath, who is this year’s membership chairwoman for the Ventura County Republican Party, has found that lobbying, meeting industry representatives and writing legislative speeches have kept her in Sacramento about a third of this year.

Her husband, Superior Court Judge Charles McGrath, pointed out that this leaves him as “sole provider” for the family livestock. Beverlee McGrath collects animals, mostly injured pets taken into custody by animal shelters. The family now harbors a dozen cats, chickens, an aviary of wild birds, horses, a dog, a guinea pig and a peacock.

Done and her husband, Clark, a retired geophysicist, populate their small seaside condominium in Oxnard with five cats--most once ill or abandoned--and 70 goldfish.

Done describes herself as the “networker” of the team--coordinating press conferences, spurring letter-writing campaigns and attracting celebrities to appear on the bill’s behalf.

The pair has gained the aid of several organizations. The New England Vivisection Society awarded grants totaling $5,000 to help with expenses for expert witnesses. The Doris Day Animal League underwrote attorney’s fees.

They were assisted in their lobbying of all 120 California legislators by Ventura attorney David Callahan and several supporters from Los Angeles.

Opposition from cosmetics industry representatives was strong, according to O’Connell.

“My kneecaps are sore and my arms are broken,” he joked in a telephone interview from Sacramento.

He said Done and McGrath’s efforts showed “grass-roots government at its finest. . . . I give them an A+”

But McGrath said she has been disillusioned by her exposure to the legislative process during the last three years.

“Half of the legislators don’t attend committee hearings,” she said. “Some are reading a bill as they are sitting down to vote on it. . . . The public needs to keep track of their legislators--half the time they aren’t on the floor.”

On the other hand, Done said, “if two housewives can get something like this through, the system works.”

Done plans to spend the next few days continuing to urge voters to contact Wilson about the bill.

“I’m hopeful,” she said.