SACRAMENTO — With a long-awaited state water deal in sight, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger finally took action on hundreds of bills that had been sitting on his desk for almost a month — a frenzied burst of signatures and vetoes that stretched into the wee hours of Monday morning.
In all, the governor, who had threatened mass vetoes unless legislators committed to forging a water reform package, signed 478 bills and rejected 229. He reliably favored the state’s business interests but also boosted two of his favored causes: education reform and green technology.
Among the most sweeping is a bill by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, meant to help California better compete for billions in new federal education money. The bill, SB19, will allow data on students’ performance to be linked to teacher evaluations — a key criteria to help the state qualify for so-called “Race to the Top” stimulus money but has been bitterly opposed in concept by teachers unions.
Another watershed bill, AB920, will require electric utilities for the first time to pay their customers for any surplus power produced by home solar or wind arrays.
And, Schwarzenegger on Sunday signed two bills closely watched by gay-rights advocates: one to recognize same-sex unions performed outside California and another that designates a day of honor for slain gay icon Harvey Milk every May 22.
But for many of the bills, drama over their fates lingered almost right up until Sunday’s midnight signing deadline. And most would have been vetoed if the governor and the Legislature’s top Democrats and Republicans hadn’t made so much progress on a water deal.
“The governor knew we were working day and night trying to resolve the problem,” Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, said Monday. “I’m just glad he did the responsible thing.”
Few new details were revealed Monday about the preliminary water agreement, which could go before Senate and Assembly members this week. The goal is to fortify California’s crumbling water infrastructure and stabilize the environmentally sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, source of two-thirds of the state’s drinking and farming water.
So far, leaders have discussed a 20 percent reduction in state water use by 2020 through stricter conservation measures; a statewide system to monitor groundwater pollution; and the establishment of a special governing body to manage the delta. Key to the agreement is whether two-thirds of lawmakers can agree on a $9.4 billion bond that would help pay for possible new dams and other construction. And if a bond deal makes it through the Legislature, it still would have to go before a potentially skeptical electorate.
Despite such questions, the governor felt enough progress on the decades-old water standoff had been made to lift his mass-veto threat. Still, Schwarzenegger sent nearly a third of the bills sent his way to the legislative trash heap.
Notably, the governor delivered on a promise to veto an ambitious plan for tightening the state’s renewable energy standards. SB64, also by Simitian, would have forced utilities to start obtaining a third of their power from renewable sources in the next 10 years.
Schwarzenegger hailed the target but said the bill, as written, was too complex. Instead, the governor signed an executive order that will require utilities to meet the target but offer them more leeway on how to do so.
The governor also rejected several other potentially high-impact measures, including new restrictions on when health insurers could rescind coverage; measures to protect state parks from encroaching development; and a plan to funnel $400 million in state money to low-performing schools. Instead, the governor will tap federal funding for those schools.
The approval of Harvey Milk Day was something of a surprise. Schwarzenegger last year had vetoed a similar measure to honor the former San Francisco supervisor, and conservative groups had been loudly pressuring him to do so again.
“The governor believes that Harvey Milk has come to symbolize the importance of the gay community in California and their contributions, and he wanted to honor that by signing the bill,” said the governor’s spokesman, Aaron McLear. He noted among other factors last year’s critically acclaimed biopic about Milk and a special posthumous recognition by President Barack Obama.
Among South Bay legislators, Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, perhaps scored the most victories. Schwarzenegger signed SB43, which allows the San Francisco 49ers to mostly avoid Santa Clara’s public bidding process for their proposed $937 million stadium project. He also signed AB1383, co-sponsored by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, which will earmark an additional $320 million for children’s health coverage.
Other key bills signed by the governor:
Steven Harmon and Josh Richman of the Bay Area News Group and Mercury News Staff Writer Howard Mintz contributed to this report. Contact Denis C. Theriault at 916-441-4651.
