Some Bills Hit the Veto Trail

Deviating from this year’s political emphasis on finding common ground with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Democratic legislators Monday began a largely symbolic effort to provide state-run healthcare for all Californians and driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.

The measures are sure to be vetoed by Schwarzenegger should they pass the full Legislature as expected. But they are just a few of the proposals the Democratic-led Legislature is acting on in the final days of a session that has been focused on reaching deals with Schwarzenegger to raise the minimum wage, cut prescription drug prices and spend billions to improve the state’s roads, levees and school buildings.

By the time the session ends Thursday, the Legislature is likely to send to the Republican governor several additional bills that he is expected to reject. They would make it harder for companies such as Wal-Mart to open superstores, allow illegal immigrants to obtain financial aid for state colleges and universities, and ban school textbooks and curricula from including negative comments about homosexuals. Schwarzenegger either vetoed previous years’ versions of these bills or has given indications that he will veto them.

Larry Gerston, a political science professor at San Jose State University, said such bills are particularly important for Democrats in this election year to appeal to their voters.

“Everybody is playing both sides at the same time,” Gerston said. “The [health insurance] bill is one of the few opportunities for the Democrats to distinguish themselves from the Republicans. But there aren’t many, because they’ve reached so many compromises in so many areas.”

The immigration and health insurance bills have been the projects of passion for two rank-and-file Democrats in the Legislature, and are strongly supported by two key party constituencies: liberals and Latinos.

For years, Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) has been pushing for a state-run universal healthcare program to replace the network of private insurers. But funding the project would require the support of two-thirds of the Legislature, something that has not been possible because of the unvarying opposition of Republicans.

So Kuehl’s bill sidestepped that fight by leaving out the funding issue. Her bill simply lays the groundwork -- both bureaucratic and political -- for a universal healthcare system should future California lawmakers choose to adopt it.

The bill, SB 840, would establish a 21-member commission that would develop a comprehensive plan to recommend a structure of premiums. That report would have to be submitted to the governor and Legislature by January 2009, and those lawmakers would decide what to do with it.

The bill also creates a state bureaucracy that would function as California’s health insurer. The measure passed the Assembly on an initial vote of 43 to 30 and will head to the Senate.

Schwarzenegger has not taken a formal position on the bill. But at a speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco last month, he said: “I don’t believe in universal healthcare. I don’t believe that government should be getting in there and should start running a healthcare system that is kind of done and worked on by government.”

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) said the measure was an important statement given that Schwarzenegger had not proposed how to provide healthcare to about 6 million Californians without insurance.

“We put something on the table here,” Nunez said. “This is our plan.”

The insurance industry has been lobbying against the measure. David Benson, president of the California Assn. of Health Underwriters, said the bill did not do anything to control rising medical costs.

“There are no silver-bullet reforms to California’s healthcare system,” he said in a statement.

The driver’s license bill has been championed by Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles). Repealing it was part of Schwarzenegger’s 2003 campaign, and in the last two years he vetoed Democratic efforts to put it back into law.

The latest version, SB 1162, would allow California to issue driver’s licenses that could not be used for general identification, but only for driving. Proof of legal presence in the country would not be necessary.

The bill passed the Assembly, 42 to 34, and now heads to the Senate.

Also Monday lawmakers approved bills concerning:

* Sea otters: Would create a state research program to investigate mortality trends involving the marine mammals. The Assembly gave final approval to AB 2485.

* Ultrasounds: Would restrict the sale of ultrasound machines to those trained in their use. AB 2360, which won final approval in the Assembly, was devised to stop wealthy people from overusing the machines to make “keepsake videos of fetuses” and for other entertainment purposes.

Also on Monday, Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation that would have designated Zinfandel as the historic wine of California, saying that it would be inappropriate to single out one variety.

“Whether it is a Cabernet from Napa or Sonoma, a delicate Pinot Noir from the Central Coast, a Zinfandel from the San Joaquin Valley or Sierra foothills, California produces some of the finest wines in the world. California wines have inspired authors, artists, and Oscar winning motion pictures,” the governor wrote.

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Times staff writers Nancy Vogel and Dan Morain contributed to this report.