Session of Note

The most activist Legislature in years has adjourned after passing an array of bills affecting virtually every California citizen: their health, the quality of the schools, the cost of registering their cars, unemployment benefits, the condition of their highways and the ability to afford a house or go to college.

In the final hours of the session early Friday, lawmakers sent hundreds of measures to Gov. Gray Davis, including a short-term effort to deal with the electric-power crisis and a proposal to settle a longtime battle over the need for new hospital beds in Los Angeles County.

This was a strong, productive session, made easier by massive budget surpluses that will allow state spending to exceed $100 billion in the coming year. Next year, legislative leaders need to narrow their focus to some longer-range problems. Prime candidates would be the fiscal relationship between state and local governments, and possibly general tax reform. But the legislators also need to make sure the state can adequately cope with an economic downturn.

Davis has 30 days in which to sign or veto bills passed in the final deluge. The self-described “New Democrat” is expected to use the veto freely. The Democratic-controlled Legislature is generally more liberal than the governor, and one test will be whether Davis vetoes measures to increase benefits paid under unemployment insurance, Senate Bill 546 by Sen. Hilda Solis (D-La Puente), and workers’ compensation, SB 996 by Sen. Patrick Johnston (D-Stockton). Davis has shrewdly balanced the interests of labor unions and business but sometimes must give the edge to workers with overdue increases.

The governor and the lawmakers appeared to get along better than last year, when Davis concentrated on public education and declared that the Legislature’s role was to “implement my vision.” And Davis seemed to meddle less with bills on their way through the Legislature. He did persuade Assemblyman Jack Scott (D-Altadena) to drop his handgun-licensing bill, which faced a certain veto. But if Scott is elected to the Senate this fall he should put the bill forward again in 2001. It’s an important bill and should be passed.

Two unexpected events occupied much of the Legislature’s attention this year: the scandal surrounding former state Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush and the energy crisis that struck the San Diego area with soaring utility bills.

The Assembly skillfully laid the groundwork for the political drama that forced Quackenbush’s resignation in lieu of impeachment, but efforts to adopt comprehensive insurance department reform were only partly successful. The issue needs to be raised again in 2001.

On the energy issue, the Legislature and governor did a good job under difficult conditions in handling the utility crisis, but the ultimate authority for containing the problem rests with federal regulators. California must push them for a better balance between supply and demand. The economy requires it.

Also significant was the session’s progress on local government finance and growth. SB 1637 by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco), now on the governor’s desk, caps the state’s take of local property taxes. State government will continue to get the bulk of these funds, but local governments will be able to keep increases produced by gains in property values. Also significant to local power was passage of AB 2838 by Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), which gives local agencies more power to restrain urban sprawl. Davis should sign both these important measures into law, capping a legislative session of notable gains.