Good Work, Governor

When Hearst family interests hired a longtime associate of Gov. Gray Davis to lobby against Senate Bill 497, many figured that was the death knell for the legislation. The measure, by Sen. Byron Sher (D-Stanford), closes a loophole in state law that allowed speculators to revive development rights on land. There were fears that this loophole would be used to drive up the cost of unspoiled Hearst ranchland on the San Luis Obispo County coast that conservation groups seek to preserve. On Saturday, Davis announced he had signed the Sher bill into law, delighting environmental groups and disappointing real estate interests that had supported him financially.

When the Legislature adjourned Sept. 14, it left Davis some 900 bills to act on by the end of the day last Sunday. In the end, there was an extraordinary amount of good news. Last weekend, Davis signed a bill to give domestic partners more rights, another to make it a state crime to attack or threaten abortion clinics, and a state gun licensing bill.

Is business-friendly Davis turning back to the left now that he’s facing reelection? Perhaps, but he also made business happy, and upset organized labor, by vetoing an expansion of worker’s compensation benefits.

Davis, who does have a long record of working to preserve open space, deserves particular praise for his action on conservation. On Saturday he also signed AB 1602, by Assemblyman Fred Keeley (D-Boulder Creek), to put a record $2.6-billion bond issue for parks and natural resources on the March election ballot. Bond supporters had worried that Davis would use the lagging economy as an excuse to ax the measure. Happily, the governor came down on the side of long-term care of the state’s natural resources. Earlier, he signed landmark legislation requiring developers to demonstrate they had an assured water supply before they could begin construction on massive new housing tracts.

The dominance of the energy crisis had lowered expectations for the 2001 legislative session. Ultimately, however, California’s lawmakers passed, and the governor signed, a surprising number of good bills.