700 bills per year for the governor to sign!

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had 700 bills to sign or veto.  How many of those bills did he actually read before signing or vetoing?

So many bills in only one year, by one state.At least the legislature did not pass all the bills, 2600, that were brought up.     How many bills in a year by all branches of government?  

Do we really think we are free when we have over 14 million arrests each year in the U.S.? About two thirds of the population is between the ages of 15 and 64, so this demographic has about a 7 out of 100 chance of being arrested in the U.S. The U.S. also has the highest incarceration rate in the developed world?   Did you know it is illegal to go to another country with the "intent" to have sex with a minor?

One bill, AB 119, prohibits insurances companies from charging women higher premiums for health coverage even though women use health services more and live longer.

How about AB 1116, which prohibits elective cosmetic surgery without "an appropriate physical examination and written clearance for the procedure" by a state-licensed physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner? AB 1116 will guarantee income for "licensed" physicians and raise the cost of cosmetic surgery. It is legal plunder for the physicians.

Useless laws weaken the necessary laws. – Montesquieu

A new book by Harvey Silverglate, "Three Felonies a Day,"  shows how unfree Americans really are.   Yet we ridicule Shira Law, as if to say how oppressed they are and praise how unoppressed we are.   In Orwellian speak, the more laws we have the more freedoms we have, or so the public thinks.

Bilbo Baggins
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Governor signs hundreds of bills
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

Monday, October 12, 2009

Making deadline calls on hundreds of bills Sunday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave Santa Clara a boost in its bid to lure the 49ers south, permitted the killing of birds at airports, and put motorists in Alameda County on notice: Drive drunk just once and face a breath test every time you take the wheel.

Working late into the night Sunday through a pile of about 700 bills, Schwarzenegger signed at least 230. He also vetoed at least 221, including a closely watched measure that would have barred California State University executives from receiving pay raises or bonuses in years when the state cuts their funding.

The actions were announced as the governor and legislative leaders continued tense negotiations on a package to overhaul the state's water system. Lawmakers ended talks without a deal, but the governor said much progress was made and that he would call the Legislature into a special session to discuss water proposals.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said he anticipates holding public hearings on water proposals sometime this week.

A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said the governor would not enact a mass veto on legislation, as he had threatened earlier in the week, because of the level of success of the water discussions. The governor was announcing his actions on bills late into the night in order to meet a midnight deadline to sign or veto the measures.

Measures signed into law include:

-- Senate Bill 43 by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, allowing Santa Clara to award a contract to design and build a proposed 49ers stadium to a firm of the team's choice - rather than to the lowest bidder as normally required under city law.

-- SB792 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, which allows the state to pursue the sale of up to 23 acres of the Candlestick Point Recreation Area to Lennar Corp. and dedicate the money from the sale to park improvements.

-- SB481 by Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks (Sacramento County), which allows for the killing of birds at airports to protect public safety. The measure was inspired by US Airways Flight 1549, which made an emergency landing in the Hudson River in New York in January after striking birds during takeoff.

-- Assembly Bill 42 by Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, increasing the penalty for being a spectator at a dogfight - another response to the dogfighting conviction of professional football star Michael Vick.

-- AB91 by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, creating a five-year pilot program in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tulare counties in which an ignition interlock device would be installed on vehicles owned or operated by first-time drunken driving offenders. The devices prevent vehicles from being started if the driver is intoxicated.

While announcing his approval of the program, which goes into effect in January, Schwarzenegger said state leaders "must do everything we can to ensure the public's safety on the road."

Measures the governor vetoed include:

-- SB86 by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, which would have prohibited California State University executives from getting raises or bonuses in years when their state funding is cut. Schwarzenegger's veto message called the bill "micromanaging" by the state and said its provisions were not entirely clear.

-- SB218, also by Yee, which would have made auxiliary organizations at UC and CSU, along with community colleges, come under the state's public records laws.

-- AB241, by Nava, which would have placed limits on the number of unsterilized cats and dogs that a business or person that buys and sells the animals can have.

-- AB1512 by Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance (Los Angeles County), which would have imposed a $10-per-day fine on retailers for each package of baby formula and food offered for sale beyond the expiration date. Schwarzenegger said current law already has strong provisions and penalties for tainted food and drug products.

-- SB84 by Steinberg, which would have guaranteed $400 million in funding to 500 low-performing schools. In his veto message, the governor said that the bill is unnecessary and that his administration has found federal funds to provide the money.

The governor also vetoed Yee's measure to protect the freedom of a person to speak any language he or she chooses in a business establishment. The measure would have made it a violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, the state's highest civil rights law, if a business "requires, limits or prohibits" the use of any language, except if doing so is a business necessity.

"Thank God the Unruh Civil Rights Act happened before this governor," Yee said. "If it were on his desk, he would veto it."

Schwarzenegger also vetoed Leno's SB585, which would have phased out gun shows at the Cow Palace, with a total ban beginning in 2013. In his veto statement, the governor said it would set a "confusing precedent" and reduce state and local tax revenues.

Schwarzenegger had considerably fewer bills to consider this year than last. Lawmakers approved fewer measures with an eye on the state's enormous budget deficit. Last year, the governor vetoed 35 percent of bills, the largest percentage of rejections in the past four decades.

The governor was on pace Sunday night to surpass that mark, as he had vetoed nearly half of the first 451 bills that he acted on. If the governor takes no action, bills become law without his signature. But Schwarzenegger has rarely, if ever, done that.

Staff writer John Coté contributed to this report. E-mail Wyatt Buchanan at wbuchanan@sfchronicle.com.

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