Davis Vetoes Bills to Revise Gaming Laws

Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday vetoed several bills that would have expanded wagering on horse races, and rejected a separate measure that would have barred out-of-state companies from operating card rooms.

Davis, who last year approved compacts that granted Indian tribes monopoly rights to Nevada-style casinos in California, said in a statement that the vetoes show he is “taking a stand against expansion of gaming in California.”

The card room bill, SB 1838 by state Senate leader John Burton (D-San Francisco), would have benefited corporations that own and operate Hollywood Park and the card room at the track by allowing them to continue running the facility. It was not known how the corporations will respond. Currently, state law bars companies from running card rooms if the businesses are involved in out-of-state gambling operations that would be illegal under California law.

The governor also vetoed legislation, AB 2847 by Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh (D-Los Angeles), that he said would abolish state requirements that card club operators record and report transactions involving credit, including the cashing and deposit of checks.

Davis said that eliminating credit transactions from regulation by the state Gambling Control Commission would invite “inappropriate extensions of credit and loan-sharking.”

Additionally, Davis vetoed measures that would have increased the number of horse races that people can bet on; expanded the types of horses that can run in races; and increased simulcast wagering.

Davis must still decide two significant gambling bills by Saturday, the deadline for him to sign or veto legislation. One would permit card rooms to continue operating, despite a 1999 state Supreme Court ruling that their practice of banking games violates the state Constitution. A second bill would allow gamblers to bet on horse races by telephone and over their computers, while also helping to improve working and living conditions of workers at racetracks.

Among his other actions, the governor vetoed legislation that would have allowed schoolchildren to recite a passage from the Declaration of Independence instead of the Pledge of Allegiance.

“Pledging allegiance to the flag is a tradition worthy of this great nation. I see no reason to depart from that time-honored tradition,” Davis said in a veto message.

The bill, AB 1747 by Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian (R-Encinitas), was supported by the conservative Capitol Resource Institute, and cleared both houses unanimously.

It proposed that as a substitute for the Pledge of Allegiance, students recite the familiar passage that begins, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights . . .”

Kaloogian said that reciting the passage would give students a better understanding of America’s history and enhance their preparation for “productive citizenship.”

In other action this week, Davis signed bills on:

* Optometrists. SB 929 by Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), authorizing optometrists to prescribe antibiotics for eye infections and certain cases of glaucoma. Prescriptions now must be signed by a physician.

* Pharmacies. SB 1339 by Sen. Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont), requiring pharmacies to create programs to document medication errors made by pharmacy workers.

* Sex offenders. SB 446 by Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Garden Grove), requiring that a current photo be filed with the attorney general before a convicted sex offender is released from prison.

* SECESSION BILLS SIGNED

Legislation bearing on issues raised by efforts to break up Los Angeles is signed into law. B3