Returning Lawmakers Face Many Agendas

When state lawmakers return Monday to the Capitol from their weeklong spring break, they will face a mountain of legislation: 3,000 bills affecting Californians from cradle to grave, ranging from tax-free diapers to an Oregon-style right to die.

Now that Gov. Gray Davis’ high-profile education reform bills have passed in a special legislative session, lawmakers are eager to focus more attention on their own programs.

The Democrats who control the Legislature are turning to a wide variety of health care issues.

“It’s absolutely health care,” said Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) when asked about the next priorities. “It’s going to focus on HMO reform and access to health care” for the poor.

Proposals range from health warnings on cigars to stronger regulation of nursing homes to splitting $562 million in federal tobacco settlement funds.

Democrats say they have not been idle waiting for Davis’ education measures to pass; they have been meeting with special interests and constituent groups to line up strategy and support.

“Where’s the beef? There’s lots of beef,” said Assembly Majority Leader Kevin Shelley (D-San Francisco). “It just hasn’t been put in a bun yet, but it’s certainly been sizzling on the stove.”

Democrats are pursuing new controls on guns, an era of aggressive public works projects for the 21st century and a $1.5-billion park and open space bond issue with $500 million earmarked for urban parks.

“We have crumbling public works all around us. We’re going to try to make up for 30 or more years of neglect,” said Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who is heading a Davis task force on public works.

Some of the proposals, including health care bills, are dusted-off measures rejected by former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. High on that list is a proposal to toughen restrictions on military-style assault weapons that Wilson vetoed.

Although Wilson is gone and the political landscape has changed after two successive GOP governors, Democrats must be mindful of pursuing too many big-ticket programs that could make them vulnerable to being tagged as free-spending liberals.

“We’re saying, ‘Let’s be careful about how we proceed,’ ” Shelley said. “No one wants to be in the minority [party]” or lose the governor’s office, he said.

Indeed, the wish list reflects--to varying degrees--Davis’ leanings: improving health care and transportation.

Meanwhile, Republicans, without an ally in the governor’s chair, are finding they have little leverage to advance their own programs, including anti-crime legislation. For instance, in the special session on education, Republican-sponsored school bills were sidetracked by Democrats.

“Clearly, on a number of issues, because of Democratic majorities, we are irrelevant,” said Senate GOP Caucus Chairman Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga. Still, he said, Republicans can point out the flaws in legislation, as they sought to do on the Davis education package.

And Republicans are not abandoning traditional GOP themes such as tax cuts just because Democrats are in charge. One proposal, for example, would eliminate sales taxes on baby diapers and adult incontinence products.

Some issues lawmakers will address in the coming months:

Health Care

The list of proposed changes is long. Among them will be attempts to expand health insurance for poor families, impose consumer-friendly controls on health maintenance organizations and regulate financially troubled doctor groups.

Proponents foresee a cordial reception by Democrat Davis--as compared to Wilson--but are uncertain which efforts he will accept.

For example, they want intensified regulation of HMOs, whose plans cover most insured Californians but draw heavy criticism for putting cost savings ahead of patient care. Currently, HMO regulation is performed by the Department of Corporations, whose primary mission is oversight of the financial investments industry, not health care.

Critics, including many Democrats, contend that the swiftly changing managed care industry has outrun the department’s ability to ensure high quality patient care.

Some consumer advocates favor creating a department devoted strictly to regulating patient care and the financial health of managed care companies. Others favor shifting oversight to existing entities such as the Department of Consumer Affairs or the Department of Health Services.

“What is driving health care in this state is the Wall Street trade analyst, not the Main Street doctor,” said state Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Daly City). “We’ve seen some of the windfalls that have accrued to these entrepreneurs.”

Speier and Assemblyman Martin Gallegos (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Assembly Health Committee, said it is likely that regulation of HMOs will be shifted from the Department of Corporations--but to where is uncertain.

“I don’t think where it will be is necessarily as important as who the regulator will be and the attitude of the administration in enforcing existing regulations,” Gallegos said.

At a minimum, Gallegos and Speier said, the Legislature will create a speedy review process in which consumers can appeal disputed decisions to an independent panel of experts with the authority to override HMO rulings.

Managed care industry officials argue that major improvements have been made in handling patient grievances and that adding a new layer of review would increase health care costs.

Meanwhile, a fight appears to be brewing over how California will spend its share of funds from the national tobacco settlement, which will provide state and local governments with $25 billion over the next 25 years.

Davis has estimated the state will receive $562 million during the fiscal year starting July 1. Instead of earmarking the money for a specific program, he has proposed spending it on general government operations, a decision endorsed by the Legislature’s chief budget advisor, Elizabeth Hill.

Some lawmakers have other ideas.

Freshman Sen. Joseph Dunn (D-Santa Ana), one of the attorneys who sued tobacco companies, is pushing a bill that would spend most of the money on health care, expanding insurance coverage for the uninsured poor, and on tobacco control and prevention programs.

State Sen. Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles) has introduced a bill that would require Los Angeles County to spend an unspecified amount of its share of the settlement rebuilding County-USC Medical Center at 750 beds.

Transportation

Senate leader John Burton (D-San Francisco) is pressing ahead with a plan to issue $16 billion in bonds to rehabilitate California’s deteriorating transportation systems, including local streets and roads, state highways, and local rail and bus systems.

Davis recently told The Times that Burton’s bill is “a good place holder,” but the governor failed to offer a broader vision of what he wants to see in the package.

Still, Davis last month signaled an interest in pursuing high-speed commuter rail projects. A state rail agency already is pushing to put a $23-billion measure for a high-speed train, linking San Diego and Northern California, on the ballot.

Davis, however, directed his comments to harried urban commuters in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. “There’s just no way you can build enough more freeways to accommodate the traffic in our major metropolitan areas.

“To the extent we can get high-speed [commuter] trains serving the L.A., Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego markets . . . I think would be a great step forward,” Davis said.

Davis is expected to make specific recommendations for legislation after he receives an assessment next month from his public works task force.

Assisted Death

Beginning what she acknowledges will be a controversial fight, Assemblywoman Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley) has introduced “right-to-die” legislation patterned on Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide law.

In Oregon, the law allows a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of oral medication to a terminally ill person who is deemed to have less than six months to live and who requests life-ending drugs.

California voters in 1992 rejected Proposition 161, which would have allowed adults to instruct their doctors to provide “aid in dying” in terminal cases.

Now, Aroner is seeking to revive the debate in California with a proposal modeled after Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. Her measure would allow physicians to prescribe medication to end the lives of terminally ill patients.

Labor

Organized labor has very high hopes for reviving its fortunes with the help of Davis and the Democratic Legislature.

At the top of its list is legislation to enable workers to receive overtime pay if they work more than eight hours in a day. Under regulations imposed under Wilson, workers are entitled to overtime pay only if they put in more than 40 hours in a week.

Prisons

Prompted by legislative hearings into violence in state prisons, two state senators have joined forces to push a bipartisan proposal to increase training for correctional officers, from the current six weeks to 16 weeks.

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California Legislation

So far, 3,000 pieces of legislation have been introduced since lawmakers convened last December. Highlights include:

SENATE

* SB 15 by Sen. Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles) bans sale of small handguns commonly known as Saturday night specials.

* SB 23 by Sen. Don Perata (D-Alameda) toughens restrictions on semiautomatic firearms known as assault weapons and prohibits the sale or transfer of ammunition magazines containing more than 10 rounds.

* SB 173 by Sen. Dede Alpert (D-Coronado) creates an experimental independent ombudsman to help resolve issues between consumers and their HMOs.

* SB 270 by Sen. Betty Karnette (D-Long Beach) prohibits banks from levying surcharges for use of ATMs by consumers of other banks.

* SB 417 by Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) gives supermarket card club members the authority to prohibit the sale of personal information or data on their buying habits.

* SB 546 by Sen. Hilda Solis (D-La Puente) increases maximum unemployment benefits from $230 to $300 a week.

* SB 1091 by Sen. Jim Costa (D-Fresno) authorizes construction of an official California governor’s mansion at a cost to be determined later.

* SB 1227 by Sen. William J. “Pete” Knight (R-Palmdale) requires that parents be notified of the right to select “English only” instruction for their children.

ASSEMBLY

* AB 13 by Assemblyman Dick Dickerson (R-Redding) exempts certain products, including disposable diapers and over-the-counter drugs, from sales tax.

* AB 40 by Assemblyman Howard Wayne (D-San Diego) provides breast cancer treatment to uninsured and underinsured women.

* AB 60 by Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) requires overtime pay after an eight-hour workday instead of after a 40-hour workweek.

* AB 132 by Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) exempts hair braiding from state regulation.

* AB 222 by Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) bars discrimination in schools based on sexual orientation.

* AB 369 by Assemblywoman Sally Havice (D-Cerritos) bars conjugal visits for prisoners and prohibits prisoners from watching television.

* AB 1239 by Assemblyman Bill Leonard (R-San Bernardino) places a $2-billion water bond issue on the March 2000 ballot to finance water projects throughout the state.

* AB 1592 by Assemblywoman Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley) would legalize a physician-assisted “right to die” in California.

* AB 1595 by Migden requires cigars sold in California to carry a health warning.