Governor Jilts Proposal to Extend Matrimonial Powers

For you incurable romantics aching to have your nuptials officiated by the local unemployment appeals board, better make other plans.

Gov. Pete Wilson has vetoed a bill by state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys) that would have extended the power to perform marriages to all 450 or so California administrative law judges, including those who work for the Public Utilities Commission, the State Personnel Board and the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board.

The idea, said Robbins’ office, was not to woo weddings from priests and rabbis, but to give the judges, who hear disputes before they reach the level of a court case, the same matrimonial power as their counterparts on the civil and criminal bench.

“I don’t think there will be a rush to leave the church pastor you’ve known for the last 17 years for the public employees retirement board judge,” said Teri Burns, an associate consultant in Robbins’ Sacramento office. “Unless, of course, that judge is a relative or a friend.”

Under current rules, an administrative law judge who wants to perform a marriage must get permission from the local court commissioner, said Steve Baker, an attorney who represents the Assn. of California State Attorneys and Administrative Law Judges.

Burns said Robbins sponsored the bill at the request of Ralph Dash, a Los Angeles administrative law judge. Dash could not be reached for comment Thursday.

“Say you’re an administrative law judge and you get a call from your niece asking, ‘Will you marry us?’ ” Burns said. “You’re going to spend a lot of time explaining why you can’t instead of just saying yes or no. That’s probably the principal interest.”

But in his veto letter, Wilson cited a list of court officials who could perform marriages already and was “not aware of any demonstrated need to expand these categories.”

Nor was Earl Klein, an administrative law judge at the unemployment appeals board in Van Nuys, who was asked for his thoughts about the bill Thursday. “I’m glad he vetoed it,” he said. “I don’t see any reason why we should be performing marriages.”