Gun Curbs Virtually Dead in Assembly

SACRAMENTO — With several Democrats joining pro-gun Republicans, the Assembly on Tuesday appeared ready to kill legislation that would give cities and counties the power to approve local anti-gun ordinances, and another bill to ban the manufacture of Saturday night specials trailed in an initial vote.

The votes came even though Democrats control the Assembly, and won the majority in last November’s election in part because many of them called for stronger gun control. The apparent death of the bill to give local officials the right to regulate guns surprised some lawmakers who had hoped the vote might be closer.

As legislators worked into the night, the Assembly took several other actions, including approving on a 72-1 vote a bill aimed at helping people with AIDS and other disabilities return to work by ensuring that the state Medi-Cal program would pay for some or all of the high cost of drugs such as protease inhibitors.

Disabled people who return to work now lose Medi-Cal benefits.

If it is signed into law, the bill by Assemblywoman Carol Migden (D-San Francisco) would permit people who return to work to pay only $99 of the cost of their medicine if they earn between $1,500 and $2,500 a month.

People making less than $1,500 a month would not have to pay for the drugs. The payments would continue until the returning workers receive medical insurance that covers the cost of the drugs.

Migden noted that the bill would not add to the state’s cost because the state already pays for drugs for people on disability. She noted that the bill (AB 1099) would end up saving the state $2 million a year for every 1,000 people who leave the disability rolls and return to work.

“It is a fantastic bill for people with disabilities,” said Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro (R-Paso Robles), a quadriplegic. Pointing out that his wheelchair cost $12,000, Bordonaro said many disabled people would return to work if they could receive help paying for such equipment and medicine.

The most striking votes of the day came on the gun bills. Democrats pushed the measures, but other Democrats took leading roles in voting them down.

Tensions rose when Assemblyman Roderick Wright (D-Los Angeles) spoke out against legislation by fellow Democratic Assemblyman Louis Caldera of Los Angeles to ban the manufacture and sale in California of the cheap handguns called Saturday night specials.

Caldera said that the guns, 80% of which are manufactured by a small number of firms in Southern California, account for 70% of the guns used in crimes nationwide, and that they are “the No. 1 killer of preschoolers.”

Wright insisted that the bill would do nothing to stop gun deaths in Los Angeles, and called the measure “unfair” because it would prohibit cheap handguns, while more costly “middle-class” handguns that also could be easily concealed still could be sold.

“If you want to ban handguns, then stand up and say you want to ban them,” Wright said in a fiery speech that drew applause from Republicans who opposed the measure.

Caldera responded by denouncing Wright, saying Wright started his career as a political organizer for the National Rifle Assn.

“I found his reference . . . almost insulting,” Wright said later, adding that he hasn’t done work for the NRA since 1982, when he was a political consultant who worked to defeat Proposition 15, the initiative that sought to ban handguns. Wright shrugged off the applause from pro-gun Republicans. “You get what you get,” he said.

Caldera’s bill stalled with 32 votes, nine short of the necessary majority in the 80-member house.

Losing by an even wider margin was a measure by Assembly Majority Leader Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) to permit cities and counties to regulate guns. It garnered only 24 votes in an initial vote.

“We must recognize that gun violence is a public health hazard,” Villaraigosa said, insisting that urban areas need the authority to control guns. Currently, state law preempts cities and counties from adopting many gun restrictions.

Republicans and Democrats from rural areas opposed the measure, while most lawmakers from urban areas backed it. Both Caldera and Villaraigosa used a parliamentary maneuver to delay a final vote. Villaraigosa held out little hope his bill would pass, while Caldera was working to line up the necessary votes.

“It’s going to be tough,” said Caldera.

Earlier, the Assembly blocked another anti-gun measure by Assemblyman Jack Scott (D-Pasadena), whose son was killed when a friend’s gun fired. Scott’s bill sought to make it either a misdemeanor or a felony for someone other than the weapon’s owner to carry an unregistered concealed firearm. It failed, getting 35 votes to 36 against.

Other gun bills are likely to come up today and Thursday. But the margin of the defeat on the most sweeping measures surprised the Democrats.

“This Democratic majority is moderate,” said Assemblyman Don Perata (D-Alameda), who is pushing a bill to tighten the state law limiting assault weapons. “Moderation tends to hunker down around the status quo. We certainly aren’t doing any groundbreaking.”

The Assembly, trying to meet a deadline of this week to vote on its members’ bills and send them to the Senate, was plowing through about 100 bills Tuesday and was likely to have a similar number of measures today and Thursday.

Among the other measures, the Assembly:

* Approved AB 15, a bill that would guarantee that nonunion workers receive overtime pay when they work more than eight hours in a day. The bill, by Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles), was supported by Democrats and the California Labor Federation, and won on a party line vote, 42 to 32.

Employer organizations, led by the California Manufacturers Assn., contend that the rule is outdated and denies them the ability to offer workers flexible shifts, such as four 10-hour shifts a week. Employers insist that many workers want the change.

* Approved AB 103 by Assemblywoman Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont), which makes information about disciplinary action and malpractice judgments against physicians available on the Internet. The vote was 43 to 19.