In 2008 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had 1187 pieces of legislation sent to him by the Democrat-controlled state legislature. Much of this legislation was terrible – which makes sense when you consider that all of these bills had to pass muster with the liberals who run the State Senate and State Assembly. Virtually any Republican bill of any substance was killed somewhere in the legislative process, ensuring that only bills that grow the size and scope of state government reach the Governor’s desk.
That said, the Governor vetoed 415 of the bills, and signed 772 of them. Interestingly, the Governor’s veto percentage of nearly 35% is the highest of any Governor. In spending time going through a lot of the bills that the Governor did sign, and considering that previous Governors (of either party) signed a greater percentage than Schwarzenegger, it’s no wonder state government is so big and fat.
For a short period of time, Governor Schwarzenegger actually threatened to veto ALL of the legislation on his desk. This would have been outstanding – frankly, Californians could use a few years of no new bills to draw a line against growth in state government. That said, over at the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert, they noted that the Governor placed the following note on 136 bills that he vetoed:
**There is more – click the link**