Hope for a Bolder 2000

Gov. Gray Davis punctuated the end of the 1999 legislative season with a flurry of action, signing more than 1,000 bills into law and vetoing 232. He made mostly good decisions, but the state will benefit more if next year he puts forth a broader vision of his own instead of reacting to what the Legislature does.

Davis painstakingly hewed to his promise to be a middle-of-the-road executive who is tough on crime, stingy with the tax dollar and protective of the state’s business climate. He accommodated some of the major desires of organized labor, his biggest campaign supporter, while blunting the more liberal instincts of his fellow Democrats in the Assembly and Senate.

In the end, not everyone was happy. But with a few exceptions, Davis did little to truly anger any of his major constituencies. And compared with the limited product of Davis’ recent predecessors, the output of the 1999 session was prudent, productive and positive.

Many Democrats were irritated that Davis repeatedly sent bills back to the Legislature for changes to reflect his own views or exacted promises that they would sponsor legislation next year to undo part of what their 1999 bills accomplished. Faced with that choice or an outright veto, the lawmakers grudgingly accepted half a loaf.

Davis did make a few curious and seemingly misinformed vetoes. For one, he axed a bill (SB 1065) by Sen. Debra Bowen (D- Marina del Rey) that would have improved access to public records. Davis claimed he was protecting the confidentiality of citizens whose personal information is maintained by the state. But the Bowen bill did not provide access to any records that are not now available. It only modernized the manner in which the state had to provide the information.

In his 1998 election campaign, Davis set some general goals for his first year, primarily education reform. That was achieved during a special session last spring. He got involved in negotiating some issues, notably Indian gambling and health care reform. Otherwise, the governor mostly reacted to the initiatives of Democratic lawmakers carrying agendas after years of vetoes by Republican governors.

It is not unusual for governors to take credit for legislation on which they had little impact, but Davis’ record hardly merits the headline that ran in Time Magazine’s Oct. 11 edition: “The Most Fearless Governor in America.” In reality, Davis is one of the most cautious and meticulous of governors. He will let nothing pass his desk that might haunt him in a future campaign.

Still, 1999 was not a bad first year. In 2000, however, Davis should present a broader, more visionary agenda of his own for the Legislature to act on. A priority should be a strategic plan to rebuild the state’s infrastructure, to avert looming water shortages and to cope with the influx of students to the state’s higher education system.

California needs not a fearless governor but a somewhat bolder one.