As Sacramento Fiddles, Rest of Us Do a Slow Burn : Californians deserve more production from their lawmakers

Halfway through the 1997 session of the California Legislature, only eight bills of the 3,000 introduced have passed both houses and been signed into law. Welfare reform, the overwhelming challenge facing lawmakers this year, is far from resolution. And no agreement is near on the state budget, education funding and a host of other subjects.

The casual visitor dropping in on the twice-a-week Senate and Assembly floor sessions might wonder just what in the world is going on. In the Senate one day recently, the members of the supposedly more collegial and less partisan upper chamber got in a dither over a bill sponsored by a Republican to designate San Joaquin soil as the official state dirt. Angry at Republicans for an earlier action, Democrats blocked the bill. (It came up again later and passed 33 to 1.)

It’s worse in the Assembly. The lower house, with minority Republicans playing puckish opposition, has been locked in almost constant confrontation and parliamentary gamesmanship. Most days, the Assembly whiles away its time debating meaningless resolutions that pay tribute to people or implore Congress to do this or that, or by introducing visiting friends and constituents.

Last Monday, the Assembly even bickered over a routine declaration of Earth Day. Assemblyman Steve Baldwin (R-El Cajon) complained, “Every time we have Earth Day, they trash the park.” He presumably referred to the thousands of schoolchildren who come to the Capitol grounds to visit environmental exhibits, as they did on Tuesday. “Are we honoring a bunch of sloppy pigs who don’t pick up after themselves?” Baldwin asked. Earth Day survived on a vote of 57 to 9.

Monday’s rancorous session got so bad that Republican leader Curt Pringle of Garden Grove suggested that the Rules Committee consider banning resolutions altogether.

To be fair, it must be said that at this point in a session, most of the real work is going on in committee meetings. As the weeks pass, an increasing number of bills will reach the full Senate and Assembly for debate and final vote. But this year, many committees have run behind schedule.

The situation now is complicated by a federal judge’s ruling that legislative term limits are unconstitutional. Much of lawmakers’ energies will be expended in reacting to the ruling and trying to figure out what impact it will have on their political futures.

Pringle’s proposal on resolutions is a nice thought, but it would not solve the problem. As real legislation reaches the floors of the two houses, the partisan battles will just get nastier. This is a marked change from not so long ago, when debate tended to be more civil and constructive. There was an occasional big partisan fight, but lawmakers fought over the important stuff, not the trivia. Today, the emphasis is on playing political “gotcha” and laying land mines for the next election battle. The legislative product suffers.

Why is it this way? In part because California has had more competitive election districts since the last redistricting. In part because state electoral politics have become so polarized and negative. In part because term limits robbed the Legislature of institutional memory and tradition. What’s the answer? Public outrage. Californians deserve better from their lawmakers and they must demand it.