The Legislature, Abridged

The same citizen activist who launched the recall campaign against former Gov. Gray Davis is out to eviscerate the California Legislature. Ted Costa, head of the grass-roots group People’s Advocate, has started a petition for an initiative to prohibit the Legislature from meeting more than 90 days every two years, less than all but two other states.

Costa has picked an easy target, a Legislature too often snared in partisan gridlock and sniping. But this proposal would only enhance the power of special interests and a governor’s office that already is one of the nation’s strongest.

Costa’s measure, aimed at the 2006 ballot, claims that the “experiment” with a full-time Legislature has only given the state a body “dominated by career politicians beholden to special interests.” Curiously, that was the argument of Pat Brown, Ronald Reagan and others in successfully promoting the idea of a full-time Legislature in the election of 1966 -- 38 years ago.

It’s also curious that the same argument was used to dupe the public into adopting term limits 14 years ago. The two-term limit in the Assembly has filled the Legislature with short-timers who have too little stake in the state’s future. In fact, many experts believe that the influence of campaign contributors and lobbyists is greater than ever. A part-time Legislature surely would make that situation worse.

California’s Legislature would lose much of its clout and be unable to properly oversee state programs. By contrast, the governor and lobbyists would still be at work full time. To limit each year’s session to 45 days also would strip the Legislature of adequate time to analyze and shape the state budget.

The Nov. 2 ballot contains 16 state initiatives, many of which should never have been brought to a public vote. Residents can avoid clogging future ballots by saying no to those being paid to gather signatures for this damaging measure.