Respected Sacramento Bee Columnist Dan Weintraub, on his blog (sorry, you have to pay $$ to read it) reflected on FR’s annual Top Twenty Bills to Veto. Apparently Weintraub might have to join the ranks of those who think that Arnold is more conservative than he actually is — those ranks include many on this website (and a vast amount of those who worked hard on his election and re-election).. Weintraub, upon review of our list (compiled by State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, and yours truly) said this:
"I am going to go out on a limb here and say I think Schwarzenegger will veto at least 15 of the 20 bills this year, and perhaps as many as 18… Given everything that has been said and written about Schwarzenegger’s leftward tilt, it will be interesting to see how this turns out. He could very well veto 19 of these 20 bills, and 21 of the 23 top targets of the most conservative Republican web site in California. At the least he is almost certain to veto more than half of the bills. That must say something about where Schwarzenegger really stands, about how far to the left the Democrats in the Legislature are, or both."I put this out there because it is my unfortunate task to share with FR readers that yesterday the Governor acted on four of our Top 20 Bills to Veto — SIGNING INTO LAW THREE OF THEM! So as of today, the Governor is scoring a DISMAL 25%, working his way towards a grade of F! Fortunately there is still an opportunity for the Governor to make a come-back, as he has 16 more of the "worst of the worst" sitting on his desk, and if he vetoes all of then, he’ll have stopped 17 of the 20, and will score a "B". Last year, the Governor vetoed 15 of our Top Twenty.
The Governor is going to have to work overtime with his veto pen, rejecting all of the remaining bad bills we have highlighted, in order to preserve the accuracy of Weintraub’s predictions of what the Governor will do…
The Top Twenty Bills column has been updated to reflect the actions thus far, but here is a refresher on the three bills he signed, and the one he votoed. Because these are the 20 worst bills, each one that he signs is TERRIBLE NEWS for California, and each signature sends a chilling signal about Governor Schwarzenegger’s shifting political ideology. Frankly, these bills are so bad that even the most moderate of Republicans would likely find almost all of them to be extreme in their liberal approach to the role of government in the lives of individuals.
THE BILLS HE HAS SIGNED:
Two from our "Nanny Government Bills" category (the first one being a real doozy), and very telling of the government’s philosophy about the role of state government in the lives of individuals…
- SB 7 by Senator Oropeza (D-Long Beach) imposes a $100 fine to smoke in a car, moving or parked, when there are minors in the car. No one questions that smoking is harmful, even stupid, and that smoking with kids in the car is irresponsible – but is it government’s job to save us from our own stupidity? No word yet on whether the next bill along this line will make it illegal to leave minors in a car with an unmuzzled pit bull or a brood of pit vipers. One wonders what will happen when a 17-year-old is pulled over for smoking in her own car…
- AB 868 by Assemblyman Davis (D-Los Angeles) is the Hot Gas study bill. The laws of physics dictate that the hotter matter gets the more it expands. Beginning life as a bill about “inmate labor” then morphing into a measure about “Parolee reentry programs,” the Hot Gas bill will spend $200,000 of your money to verify that the laws of physics apply to underground gasoline tanks. You see, some “consumer advocates” are worried that we pay more for gasoline at the end of a hot day when the fuel in the tanks has expanded, than we do early in the morning or during the winter because a gallon of gasoline at 70 degrees weighs slightly less than a gallon of gas at 55 degrees (the chemists reading this will remember this as the basic equation PV=nRT). Australia has already extensively studied the issue and concluded that the added costs of using temperature correction technology hurt consumers more than it helped.
And from our "over reaching environmental laws" category…
- SB 5 by Senator Machado (D-Linden) is another attempt to shut down development in the conservative Central Valley by having the state take land use decisions away from local government under the guise of flood control. The bill builds or repairs no levees. Instead, it buries local government under a flood of costly rules and studies. As with its predecessors (all vetoed), several late and bad amendments were taken in the last few days before passage.
THE ONE BILL OF THE 20 HE HAS VETOED THUS FAR…
We are VERY pleased that the Governor vetoed a particular egregious bill which topped our "Nanny Government" category, AB 881:
- AB 881 by Assemblyman Mullin (D-South San Francisco) imposes more state mandates on the use of car seats for children, this time making children seven and eight years old have to ride in the often uncomfortable seats. Last year, the Governor vetoed AB 2108 by Assemblymember Evans that pretty much did the same thing. In the veto message for AB 2108, the Governor said: "…simply increasing the maximum age requirements for children to be restrained by vehicle booster seats, as proposed by AB 2108, will do little to actually better protect our children. Parental responsibility is the key to protecting our children.” Interestingly, one of the groups sponsoring the law, “Safe Kids Worldwide,” gets funding from ToysRUs which would profit from the sales of additional, larger car seats for older children.
Again, you can see the entire list right here.
We will nervously await the remainder of the Governor’s actions, with really no understanding of what he will or will not sign… Which is sad in and of itself…
Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?
Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.