Capitol busy as governor heads to China

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger jetted to China on Monday to help promote an event dear to his wife’s family, taking a four-day break from the special legislative session that he called to address California’s healthcare and water problems and leaving more than 600 bills awaiting action on his desk.

The governor, who is scheduled to return Thursday night, has two weeks to sign or veto the measures and is prohibited by the state Constitution from acting on them while he is out of the state.

Schwarzenegger announced his trip a day before flying to Shanghai for the summer games of the Special Olympics, a nonprofit that benefits the disabled.

He broke the news Sunday morning in a live satellite speech to a conference of Britain’s Conservative Party in London, an event he had initially planned to attend as keynote speaker.

He canceled that trip in late August.

Schwarzenegger also postponed a trip to India that was scheduled for this fall, citing his effort to forge a deal on healthcare, his biggest stated goal for the year.

On Sunday, he told the Conservatives: “I’m very sorry that I could not join you in person, but as you probably know by now, I’m in the middle of a special session of the Legislature that I called. . . . Because of that, I had to cancel all travel, except a long-term promise to attend the Special Olympics World Summer Games in China, which is this coming week. Now this is an organization that my mother-in-law started.”

But in fact, Schwarzenegger traveled to New York last week to speak at the United Nations about global warming, then went to Sonora, Mexico, on Thursday and Friday for a conference of the Border Governors Assn., a group he will lead as chairman for the next year. He flew to his Los Angeles home Thursday night to celebrate his son’s 10th birthday.

Schwarzenegger made the trip to China by private jet, and five aides flew separately via commercial airline. Spokesman Aaron McLear said the governor was paying for his own travel, and the details of who would pay the travel expenses of his aides were still being worked out.

The Special Olympics, which provides physical fitness training and competition for children and adults with mental disabilities, was founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the mother of First Lady Maria Shriver. Timothy Shriver, the governor’s brother-in-law, is the organization’s chairman. According to the Special Olympics website, it serves 2.5 million people with disabilities in 165 countries.

Schwarzenegger has frequently worked on the group’s behalf. In 2005, he traveled to Beijing to serve as “Special Olympics Global Torch Bearer.”

Aides to the governor had said early last week that they did not know whether Schwarzenegger would attend this week’s games. But the governor “decided Saturday that things were in place well enough that he could go” to China, McLear said.

“Whenever the governor leaves the state, he is always fully engaged in what’s going on here,” McLear said.

While in Shanghai, which is 15 hours ahead of Sacramento, Schwarzenegger was scheduled to walk into the stadium today with the United States team and speak at the opening ceremonies. He also plans to attend an event Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

At home, the governor has not yet reached agreements with Democrats in the Senate, who are taking the lead on a proposal to augment and stabilize the state’s water supply, or those in the Assembly, who are trying with Schwarzenegger to create universal healthcare. Both issues would likely require ballot measures that must be finalized in coming weeks if voters are to act on them in February.

Lynda Gledhill, a spokeswoman for Senate Leader Don Perata (D-Oakland), said Monday that work was continuing and that the governor’s absence was not “a huge issue.” Hearings on water bills are slated for the Assembly and Senate on Thursday.

There are 643 bills on the governor’s desk, according to McLear. Schwarzenegger already has signed 257 measures and vetoed 10. His office is still waiting for about 50 others to arrive from the Legislature.

Schwarzenegger must decide on all the bills by Oct. 14.

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michael.rothfeld@latimes.com