Some Oppose Giving Davis CHP Control

A legislative plan to put the California Highway Patrol under tighter control of Gov. Gray Davis as a response to terrorism is meeting resistance from within the Davis administration.

Davis has taken no position, but the legislation is vigorously backed by the Assn. of California Highway Patrol Officers, a political ally of the governor and a generous contributor to his election campaigns.

The bill, SB 1996, by Sen. Betty Karnette (D-Long Beach), would transfer direct control of the CHP to the governor from the patrol’s current administrative parent, the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.

Nobody in the Davis administration is on record as officially opposed to the idea, but Maria L. Contreras-Sweet, director of Business, Transportation and Housing, defended her agency’s role in managing the patrol.

Transferring the CHP from her control would cripple the agency’s role in coordinating the many interlocking bureaucratic functions of the DMV, Caltrans, the traffic safety office and the CHP, Contreras-Sweet said.

She praised Karnette as “a bright star” in the Legislature and said she respects the Highway Patrol union. But she indicated she opposes anything that would weaken her agency’s ability to coordinate actions and policies.

“We play an important coordinating function every single day to make sure these departments ... are working for the safety of the people,” she said.

Karnette said the idea came to her in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the East Coast. She said that as a consequence of the attacks, the Highway Patrol has become California’s front-line law enforcement department in dealing with scores of terrorism issues.

For example, the patrol has added intensified surveillance of roads, bridges and vulnerable public works to its normal traffic duties. It also guards the statewide electricity grid and puts armed plainclothes officers on airliners as marshals.

Karnette said she knew of no cases in which the patrol had been delayed or stopped from performing anti-terrorist duties by its parent agency, which reports to Davis. But she said the new era called for streamlining administrative changes.

“With the new emphasis on security, the Highway Patrol should be under the direct administration of the governor,” Karnette said last week. “I just think it might be more efficient.”

She praised the way the CHP handled swift mobilizations and new security duties since Sept. 11. But Karnette said she believed the CHP could be quicker and more flexible if it reported directly to Davis instead of agencyConteras-Sweet, a Cabinet officer appointed by Davis.

Originally, Karnette’s bill would have stripped the CHP, the state Office of Traffic Safety and the departments of Motor Vehicles and Transportation from the umbrella of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and created a new agency to house them.

The bill cleared the Senate Governmental Organization Committee on April 9. But last week Karnette amended it radically in the Transportation Committee, abandoning other provisions and rewriting it to give the governor exclusive control over the patrol.

The Transportation Committee endorsed the overhauled bill and forwarded it to the Appropriations Committee, the final stop before a vote of the full Senate.

In its original form, the patrol had a “neutral” stance on the bill.

But CHP Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick said that in the aftermath of Karnette’s rewrite he had been asked by superiors in Contreras-Sweet’s office to “reevaluate our position.” He hinted that the patrol’s new position would be in opposition to the bill but declined to discuss specifics.

The 6,900-member Assn. of California Highway Patrol Officers, which represents virtually every officer, from the newest rookie to Helmick, is among Davis’ strongest supporters. Records show it gave him more than $167,000 in campaign donations since 1998.

The longtime lobbyist for the association, Aaron Reed, said the CHP has little in common with other children of the parent agency, including the Department of Corporations, California Housing Finance Authority, Department of Real Estate and the Department of Information Technology.

Other government entities have long reported directly to the governor. They include the Office of Emergency Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Office of Criminal Justice Planning.