Bill Requiring Contraceptive Coverage Approved

The Assembly on Wednesday approved legislation requiring HMOs and health insurers to cover the costs of contraceptives for women, sending the bill to Gov. Pete Wilson, who has vowed to veto it.

The Assembly also approved, 67 to 9, a measure that will place before voters in November a record $9.2-billion bond for construction of schools and colleges. The state Senate approved the bill Tuesday, and Wilson has said he will sign it.

“The bond is so large because the neglect has been so long,” said Assemblyman Scott Wildman (D-Los Angeles), who recalled that when he was a teacher in Richmond, the custodian would move barrels around on rainy days to catch the drops leaking through ceilings.

In the Senate, lawmakers approved, 21 to 11, a new version of an earlier bill that sought to ban assault weapons. The measure by Assemblyman Don Perata (D-Alameda) would prohibit the sale, manufacture and importation of magazines of 20 rounds or more. The bill now moves to the Assembly.

The Senate also approved legislation that would gut the new Smog Check II program. The bill goes to the Assembly now, but Wilson says he will veto it.

Wednesday’s action came as lawmakers rushed to approve scores of bills and strike deals before leaving Sacramento this weekend for the year to campaign for reelection, run for higher office or retire.

Hanging in the balance were issues ranging from a pay raise for 200,000 state workers to protection of the largest stand of ancient redwoods still in private hands to a deal to significantly overhaul the state’s water delivery system.

Lawmakers also continued their interest in health care, specifically problems associated with health maintenance organizations.

The contraceptives bill by Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) would ensure paid coverage for a range of devices, including birth control pills, approved by the federal government for use by women.

It would “allow women to control their essence, as they have every right to,” said Assemblywoman Susan A. Davis (D-San Diego), who appeared on the floor Wednesday dressed as an early 20th century suffragette in honor of Women’s Equality Day.

The measure (AB 1112) was approved 42 to 23, with five moderate Republicans joining majority Democrats. Republican Assemblyman Jim Cunneen of San Jose proclaimed it “bizarre” that most health insurance plans cover sterilization and abortion, but not contraception.

“We shouldn’t overlook the cost savings of avoiding unwanted pregnancies,” he said. “Half of all pregnancies are unintended. This is a chance to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies.”

However, a spokesman for Wilson, who has vetoed a string of similar bills in recent years, said the Republican governor “cannot support this bill.”

Spokesman Ron Low said one of Wilson’s objections is that some working women could have access to state-funded contraceptive services intended exclusively for low-income women.

Under the legislation, women who work for employers that refuse to provide coverage for birth control on moral grounds would be able to get contraceptives instead through a state program for low-income women.

“That’s an entitlement program for families making up to $66,000 a year,” Low said.

In the Senate, meanwhile, two committees approved legislation that would ratify a labor contract reached by the Wilson administration and the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. The bill now goes to the full Senate.

The package would grant more than 24,000 correctional officers and other Department of Corrections employees a pay hike of up to 12%, at a cost to the state of $149 million a year.

The Senate Industrial Relations and Governmental Organization committees approved the deal, even as other unions representing state workers took the highly unusual step of attempting to block it.

“We just want equal treatment,” said Perry Kenny, president of the California State Employees Assn., which charges that Wilson has refused to bargain in good faith with his union.

Other state workers are trying to win a contract before the legislative session ends this weekend. Most state workers have gone without a raise since 1995.

Wilson approved the prison guards’ raise over the weekend, only a day after he deleted $400 million from the state budget for pay raises for state workers, leaving enough to fund only a possible 3% pay hike.

Most of the 21 unions representing state workers have been at an impasse with the administration over Wilson’s demand that they give up some Civil Service protections. The guards union, however, has been allied with Wilson.

Jeff Thompson, lobbyist for the guards union, charged that other unions were breaking “an unspoken law among labor” by opposing the contract.

“This is unprecedented among labor to attack another union’s collective bargaining agreement,” he said.

As the two-year session wound to a close, lawmakers and lobbyists engaged in high-stakes brinkmanship over an array of issues.

Among them was whether the state should kick in $130 million toward a $380-million purchase of the 7,000-acre Headwaters Forest, the largest redwood forest still in private ownership. The federal government would pay the remaining $250 million.

Wilson and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who helped negotiate the deal with the owner, Pacific Lumber, have been pushing the state to approve the deal. But several state lawmakers have balked, contending that there is insufficient protection for the ancient trees.

“The trees will be saved one way or another--either through the legislative process or through the courts,” said Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco)

Adding some luster to the issue, actor and environmentalist Woody Harrelson, wearing hiking boots, jeans and a flannel shirt, was in the Capitol appealing to lawmakers to put a halt to the “awful deal.”

“There is no point in having celebrity if you can’t use it to the right end,” said Harrelson, who was introduced to lawmakers and staffers by an aide to Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), another foe of the current deal.

“You’re cuter in person,” Sen. Dede Alpert (D-Coronado) told Harrelson.

“So are you,” Harrelson replied.

“What I’m hoping,” he said, “is that there is a deferment--put the money aside and work out the details. I just hope they won’t crank up their chain saws.”

No vote was taken on the issue Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Central Valley lawmakers continued work on a deal to put a bond measure of at least $1 billion on the November ballot to fund water projects.

One provision would provide $235 million for improvements along the Metropolitan Water District’s earthen aqueduct that brings Colorado River water to Southern California. The canal would be lined with concrete, preventing wasteful seepage, and other water storage facilities would be built.

However, the varied interests appeared unlikely to reach a compromise. Environmentalists opposed the measure, believing it would undermine efforts to solve problems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

“We urge you to stop this frenetic effort to hand out last-minute water funding,” the Natural Resources Defense Council wrote in a letter to Senate leader Burton.

Times staff writer Carl Ingram contributed to this story.

* VALLEY SECESSION: Wilson signs extension for signature gathering. B3