Bill action deadline: Gov. Jerry Brown uses raft of veto messages to draw attention to his agenda

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown often quotes erudite authors and ancient texts to help explain his thinking. But in a raft of vetoes issued ahead of Sunday’s midnight deadline to act on legislation, his message came through loud and clear — Legislature, you messed up.

Lawmakers this year neglected several of the governor’s priorities, including his desire to replace an expiring tax on health care plans. He also wanted to find funding for badly needed roadway repairs. Lashing out, Brown used his veto pen to punish them and draw attention to his agenda.

“Without the extension of the managed care organization tax that I called for in special session, next year’s budget faces the prospect of over $1 billion in cuts,” Brown wrote in a veto message issued Saturday for nine bills authored by Democrats that would have offered only modest tax credits and cost the state relatively little.

Overall, Brown vetoed 133 of the more than 800 bills that landed on his desk during the legislative session that ended last month, making his veto rate for the year 14.1 percent. That’s higher than each of the past two years and about the same as 2011, his first year in office, when he predicted lawmakers would be singing the “veto blues.”

Those vetoes attracted considerable attention over the weekend, but Brown also signed several key bills Sunday. The governor endorsed measures that ban the use of “Redskins” as a school mascot; require day care workers to be vaccinated against infectious diseases; and better protect transgender youth in foster care.

In a statement, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins said she was “deeply disappointed” by the governor’s decision to veto legislation authored by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, that sought to boost construction of low-income housing by offering builders a temporary tax break.

“This investment would have produced thousands of badly needed affordable housing units for our workforce, created thousands of well-paying jobs and also brought $200 million more in federal resources to our state each year,” said Atkins, who described Assembly Bill 35 as prudent and targeted.

Earlier this year, Brown led efforts to create tax credits for film production and the working poor that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Still, he rejected bills that won near unanimous support in the Legislature that would have offered tax breaks for food bank donations, veterans seeking employment and energy- and water-efficient appliances.

“Brown is using veto messages to set his agenda and telegraph his priorities for next year,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a University of Southern California professor and political expert. “He’s trying to get the Legislature to focus on the bigger picture.”

A new Field poll finds a majority of California voters continue to approve of Brown’s job performance: 56 percent said they approved while 32 percent disapproved and 12 percent had no opinion. It’s the ninth poll in a row — dating back to February 2013 — that a more than half of the state’s voters gave the governor positive marks.

In his veto message for a bill that sought to designate State Route 43 as an interregional roadway, thereby making it eligible to compete for state funding to cover the costs of upgrades and repairs, Brown pitched an alternative: “enact a long-term sustainable transportation funding solution in the current special session,” like he has called for. But achieving that goal would require GOP support for tax and fee increases, which is always a tall order.

Seeking to send a message about containing costs, Brown even vetoed Senate Bill 199, authored by Sen. Isadore Hall, D-Compton, which sought to provide blind, disabled Californians with assistance completing financial documents and would have cost the state $3 million annually — a minuscule fraction of California’s $117.5 billion budget.

“Before considering any expansion in this program, the state must find a permanent funding source to support the hours and activities that are authorized under current law,” Brown wrote, referencing the state’s inability so far to restore a 7 percent reduction in In-Home Supportive Services recipients’ hours that was made at the height of the recession.

On Friday, the governor used his veto pen to dismiss a series of bills that sought to increase transparency at the California Public Utilities Commission, which has long been criticized for having too cozy a relationship with the companies it regulates.

Reforming the agency became one of the Legislature’s top priorities after the disclosure last year of emails between then-PUC President Michael Peevey and top Pacific Gas & Electric executives.

One of the bills Brown rejected would have limited private communications between regulators and the utilities they oversee. Others would have directed the state auditor to hire an inspector general to monitor the agency and required legislative review if the commission hired attorneys for criminal proceedings.

In his veto message, Brown insisted that he also values transparency, but said “taken together, there are various technical and conflicting issues that make the over 50 proposed reforms unworkable. Assemblyman Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, who authored one of the bills, vowed not to give up.

“We need to rebuild the public’s trust in their government. Each and every day dysfunction continues at the CPUC, that trust erodes,” Rendon said in a statement. “Reforms must be made to the CPUC, and I look forward to working with Gov. Brown to ensure they are implemented.”

Contact Jessica Calefati at 916-441-2101. Follow her at Twitter.com/Calefati.