Davis Leans to Left on Last Day of Signing

Tacking to the left on the final day to sign or veto bills this year, Gov. Gray Davis approved legislation Sunday to significantly expand the rights of domestic partners and to beef up security at abortion clinics.

Davis also ended his self-imposed moratorium on gun control by signing into law two bills that impose new licensing requirements on prospective handgun buyers.

The moves Sunday marked the second consecutive day of proposals with strong liberal support clearing the governor’s office. On Saturday, Davis signed environmentalist-backed bills, chief among them one that authorizes a statewide vote in March on a $2.6-billion parks bond.

Some strategists saw the moves principally in political terms. They noted that Davis’ popularity is ebbing as the field of Republican challengers arrayed against him is taking shape. The bills he has approved in recent days have strong support among union workers, Latinos, gays, environmentalists and some women’s groups.

“It is real simple: If you’re running for governor as a Democrat, there are certain constituencies that need to be enthused,” Democratic consultant Darry Sragow said.

The governor, Sragow added, hopes to show Democratic voters that “a moderate Republican would not be acceptable.” Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, a wealthy Republican moderate, is considering entering the race for the GOP nomination.

As he moved to the left on policy issues, however, the governor continued his moderate practice of balancing the desires of his base, most notably organized labor, against the interests of businesses that also have supported him and contributed heavily to his reelection.

Davis’ balancing act, tricky even in the best of times, is complicated by California’s slowing economy. With unemployment rising, tax receipts are expected to be flat in 2002, likely forcing the governor to make cuts to the $100-billion-plus budget. Having already ordered department heads to propose 15% spending cuts to next year’s budget, Davis vetoed dozens of bills that would have cost money this year, and used his line-item veto authority to pare back spending in bills he signed.

Davis cited the slowing economy and falling tax payments as justification for vetoing bills that some of his Democratic constituents supported. Despite building much of his administration around the need to improve education, Davis was expected to pare all but roughly $40 million from an extra $112-million appropriation for California’s community colleges.

Even as he was signing bills supported by many Democrats, Davis managed to avoid several tough decisions, thanks to the Legislature’s failure to approve several controversial bills, sometimes at the urging of administration officials. Plaintiffs’ lawyers, among Davis’ largest campaign donors in 1998, failed to win approval of legislation to limit secret settlements in product liability cases. Business groups had mounted a major lobby effort against it.

Financial Privacy Bill Fails to Make the Cut

Also failing in the closing days of the session was a bill backed by consumer advocates to expand people’s financial privacy. Davis did sign lesser privacy measures, though he vetoed a bill opposed by businesses that would have required employers to notify employees if their e-mail was being monitored.

“I don’t think he had a lot of difficult decisions,” California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg said. “For the most part, bills that would have increased health care costs were amended or didn’t pass. The trial lawyer bills didn’t pass.”

That was not the case with labor-backed legislation, Zaremberg noted.

Davis signed legislation two weeks ago to raise unemployment insurance benefits to people who are laid off by $100 per week starting on Jan. 1. But on Sunday, the governor was preparing to veto legislation to boost benefits for injured workers, to a maximum of $651 per week from the current $490. The benefit hike would cost employers more than $5 billion a year at a time when the economy is teetering on recession, business groups contended.

Senate Leader John Burton (D-San Francisco) called the benefit increases a “piddling amount.” Burton has threatened to push an initiative for the November 2002 ballot to raise workers’ compensation benefits. However, there’s time for compromise. Davis could work on legislation when lawmakers return to Sacramento in January.

But Davis was expected to sign legislation late Sunday pushed by building trades unions to expand the state’s prevailing wage law, requiring that higher union wages be paid on more construction projects, including new low-cost housing. Housing advocates contend that the legislation by Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar) will add to the cost of new units for poor people.

“He is picking and choosing; he is being selective,” said Assembly Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco). “He is in a hard situation. We’re broke.”

On Sunday, Davis, long a supporter of gay rights, signed legislation carried by Migden that greatly expands the rights of domestic partners who register with the secretary of state to share in their partner’s financial affairs. Migden’s bill, opposed by social conservatives, won no support among Republicans in the Legislature.

Davis had to decide whether to sign or veto more than 100 bills by midnight Sunday, the constitutional deadline for acting on legislation approved in the final weeks of the session. Despite the heavy workload, Davis underscored the importance he placed on the domestic partners issue by holding a press event, attended by several gay and lesbian backers, to trumpet his decision to sign the bill.

Davis, who made support of abortion rights a cornerstone of his 1998 election campaign, held a similar event later on Sunday to herald his decision to sign legislation making it a state crime to threaten or attack abortion clinics and clinic workers, or religious worshipers and places of worship. The bill, which mirrors federal law, makes it a misdemeanor to engage in the outlawed practices.

Sen. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento), author of the bill, SB 780, contends that California has had more threats and attacks against abortion clinics than other states, but that the incidents generally have not been serious enough to attract a federal response. Her legislation requires increased police training to guard against attacks on abortion clinics, and asks that the Department of Justice prepare reports on such incidents.

“This bill is important to people who care about freedom,” Davis said. “Hopefully, it will give law enforcement the tools they need to crack down on those who would deny us our basic freedoms.”

Morning-After Pills Get Approved

The governor also signed a bill granting pharmacists the authority to provide emergency contraceptive drugs. The legislation, opposed by anti-abortion activists, will permit women who fear they are at risk of having an unwanted pregnancy to obtain morning-after pills.

The drugs differ from RU-486, the so-called abortion pill. Rather than inducing abortions, the drugs are hormones that block pregnancy after unprotected intercourse. Under the bill, SB 1169 by Sen. Dede Alpert (D-Coronado), pharmacists who offer the prescriptions must complete training courses, and be overseen by doctors.

In another item, Davis signed legislation limiting the sale of junk food and soda in public elementary schools, but cut a $5.5-million appropriation to implement the bill. Opposed by manufacturers of snacks and sodas, the bill, SB 19 by Sen. Martha Escutia (D-Whittier), is aimed at combating obesity in children.

Davis signed three bills aimed at making it easier for parents to enroll children in the Healthy Families and Medi-Cal programs, jointly paid for by state and federal tax money. The legislation, AB 59 by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) and SB 483 by Sen. Byron Sher (D-Stanford), will allow parents to enroll their children in state-run health care programs when they sign up for free school meals or get food stamps.

A third bill, AB 495 by Assemblyman Manny Diaz (D-San Jose), would give federal matching funds to local agencies for providing health insurance to children whose family income is at or below 300% of the federal poverty level and don’t qualify for Healthy Families or Medi-Cal coverage, assuming that the state obtains federal approval.

Among the most far-reaching measures that had been pending Sunday were the gun licensing bills, which Davis signed late Sunday. Under the legislation, would-be gun owners will be required to provide a thumbprint and proof of California residency from a driver’s license or state identification card, and to pass a detailed written exam and demonstrate the proper loading and unloading of a firearm.

The measures, SB 52 by Sen. Jack Scott (D-Altadena) and AB 35 by Assemblyman Kevin Shelley (D-San Francisco), do not take effect until 2003, giving law enforcement time to gear up for them. If the new laws had been in effect through Oct. 6 of this year, they would have applied to the sales of 109,866 handguns in California, the state Department of Justice said.

“If Republicans looked like they were going to nominate a conservative who was going to make a big deal out of issues like gun control and gay rights, you might have seen a different outcome on these bills,” said Republican consultant Dan Schnur, who has advised Riordan. “But Davis knows that Riordan runs to the center, so he can give his base something to cheer about.”

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Times staff writer Carl Ingram contributed to this report.