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Sacramento, Oct 4, 2008 / 04:23 pm (CNA).- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last Tuesday vetoed a bill that would have instated a statewide “Harvey Milk Day” in honor of the homosexual rights hero and encouraged public schools to observe the day by conducting “exercises remembering and recognizing” his life. The vetoed bill AB 2567 was proposed by Assemblyman Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat. It would have set May 22, Milk’s birthday, as “a day of special significance” and required the governor to proclaim Harvey Milk Day on May 22 every year, the California Catholic Daily reports.“This bill would put...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger does not have an easily discernible political philosophy, so all of Sacramento sat with bated breath in September, waiting to see what bills would become law or not. At the end of this session, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed 910 bills and vetoed 262. The worst of it: Gov. Schwarzenegger passed a dubious bill that would reduce “greenhouse gas emissions,” something that will harm jobs, impose new costs on businesses and expand government bureaucracy. “We simply must do everything in our power to slow down global warming before it's too late,” he said during the bill-signing. Another counterproductive...

Reflecting a year of cooperation with Democratic lawmakers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger marked the end of the legislative bill-signing period Saturday, vetoing bills at a lower rate than in the first two years of his term and approving several measures he had previously rejected. The flurry of last-minute signings came as analysts said Schwarzenegger has taken more moderate public positions this year and departed from the more conservative and strident tone of last fall's special election campaign. "The signing decisions are more reminiscent of 2004 than 2005," said Tim Hodson, executive director of the Center for California Studies at California State...

SACRAMENTO - California's electoral votes for president should not be awarded based on the national popular vote, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Saturday as he vetoed a bill that would have changed the way the state's electoral votes are awarded. Rushing to beat a midnight bill-signing deadline, the Republican governor signed 110 bills including a bill to require labeling of Sonoma wine and another that boosts Internet security. He vetoed 73 bills, including a mandate for alternate fuels. Schwarzenegger said a national popular vote bill by Assemblyman Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, disregards the will of a majority of Californians. The bill...

Among other things, Schwarzenegger signs into law legislation giving discounts on prescription medicines SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger trumpeted a season of legislative triumphs with a flurry of bill signings Friday, including bills that will affect everyone from low-income prescription drug consumers to hybrid drivers to television watchers to vendors who sell Vietnamese rice cakes. He signed 179 bills and vetoed 115, leaving around 175 to be signed today, the constitutional deadline to consider legislation. In total, Schwarzenegger has signed 800 bills and vetoed 189. Whether it was environmental protections, raising the minimum wage or providing discounted prescription drugs, many...

Gov. Schwarzenegger signed legislation Thursday that is intended to give parents and guardians more information about potential problems at licensed child-care facilities. The bill by Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, stemmed from the March 2004 drowning of Aryanna Sanchez in an above-ground spa at a Riverside day-care center. A social worker had cited the center's husband-wife operators at least once for leaving the spa uncovered. But Aryanna's mother, Anita Aguilar, never knew of the violation. Under AB 633, child-care centers are required to make available investigative reports and other paperwork, including evidence of the state's intent to pull a...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation Thursday to allow illegal immigrants to obtain California driver's licenses, marking the eighth consecutive year such proposals have died. Senate Bill 1162 was a far weaker proposal than had been pushed in years past, recognizing the string of defeats and bitter political friction over the issue in an election year. The veto marked one of dozens of actions taken Thursday by Schwarzenegger, who is racing to meet a deadline of midnight Saturday to sign or veto about 500 bills remaining on his desk. Two high-profile bills signed by the Republican governor, Senate Bills 1655 and...

To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 1162 without my signature. This issue has been the subject of a number of prior legislative attempts. Last year I vetoed a similar measure, SB 60, because action on this issue is premature until federal regulations are promulgated to implement the REAL ID Act. We are still awaiting those regulations. Given the potential impact of the REAL ID Act on the public safety and homeland security of Californians, members of my administration are working with the federal government to develop those regulations and secure funds necessary to...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill Sept. 6 that conservatives say would have prevented schools from giving both sides of the debate over homosexuality. The bill, SB 1437, would have prohibited teachers, school districts, textbooks and instructional materials from presenting anything that "reflects adversely upon persons" because of their "sexual orientation." The bill also would have prohibited instructional materials containing "sectarian or denominational doctrine or propaganda" regarding homosexuality. Presumably, that would have prevented materials from saying that homosexuality is anything but natural. A section of the bill requiring the teaching of "gay history" was stripped weeks ago in hopes...

Saying he opposes government-run health care, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger followed through Friday on his promise to veto a Democratic bill that would have set up a universal health care system covering all Californians. "Socialized medicine is not the solution to our state's health care problems," the Republican governor said in an unusually long veto message in which also he touted his efforts to expand two other government health care programs, Medi-Cal and Healthy Families, which serve the poor. "This bill would require an extraordinary redirection of public and private funding by creating a vast new bureaucracy to take over health...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday vetoed seven bills that could have charged Californians more on vehicle and port shipping fees, saying that such fees should be approved by local voters, not the Legislature. "Many of these proposals have been well-intentioned, with proposed fees related to the impact motorists have on roads and the environment," Schwarzenegger wrote in his veto message of Assembly Bill 2681, which would have allowed counties to increase the annual registration surcharge from $1 to $2 to fund abandoned vehicle abatement programs. "However, I consistently held that fees such as these should be approved by the voters."...

The writer is an attorney and president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Now that football season has begun, optimistic fans dream of winning the big game and a world championship. Coaches devise game plans that will keep the opposing team off balance and maximize their chances of victory. For the unlucky teams who don’t have the best talent, deception and misdirection plays are the only chance they have to succeed. The same is true in the California Legislature. The beginning of games on the gridiron also signals the end of games under the Capitol dome, where politicians seek to...

SACRAMENTO - Siding with Wal-Mart and other large employers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday vetoed legislation that would have required they provide health care benefits for their employees or pay into a state health fund. In a veto message, Schwarzenegger said the bill was the wrong approach to tackling spiraling health care costs. "Singling out large employers and requiring them to spend an arbitrary amount on health care does nothing to lower costs or guarantee that even one more person has health care coverage," Schwarzenegger said. Supporters had argued the bill was needed to prevent companies with at least 10,000...

The bill vetoed today was SB 1437, which had been approved by the Legislature. It would have prevented any school teaching materials or activities from "reflecting adversely" upon homosexuals, bisexuals or transgenders.

SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have barred textbooks from using language that would be discriminatory to gays, saying the state's education laws already prevent discrimination. The bill's author, state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, called the veto "inexplicable." Kuehl's bill initially would have required California's social science textbooks to include the historical contributions of homosexuals, but the state Assembly amended it at her request in an effort to avoid a veto from the Republican governor. The final version of SB 1437 would have prohibited any negative portrayal of homosexuals in textbooks and other instructional material, expanding current...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger got off to a fast start in his annual September Veto Parade yesterday by saying he would reject state Sen. Sheila Kuehl's nonsensical, poorly drafted bill mandating that California adopt socialized medicine. It is a sad commentary on the Legislature that Kuehl's bill made it this far. Perhaps the governor next can tackle measures that are, respectively, anti-consumer, anti-common sense and pro-corruption. AB 2592, by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would allow car-rental companies to omit the cost of airport fees when advertising rental rates. How does Leno – who sees himself as a classic liberal do-gooder...

SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Tuesday that he will veto a universal health care bill that is headed for his desk, claiming the measure would set up a "vast new bureaucracy" that would be too expensive. The Republican governor said the single-payer system proposed by Sen. Sheila Kuehl would "cost the state billions and lead to significant new taxes on individuals and businesses, without solving the critical issue of affordability. "I won't jeopardize the economy of our state for such a purpose," the governor said in a statement. Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, said Schwarzenegger's comments indicated he "has not read the...

Last week, the governor signed a $131 billion budget amid a chorus of bipartisan congratulations. With state revenues higher than expected, and the governor positioning himself for a re-election bid in the fall, there was relatively little of the acrimonious negotiations that normally accompany the hammering-out of the state's spending plan. But the governor did do a bit of trimming before signing his budget deal. He used his line-item veto authority to cut $112 million in state funds from the budget. The state lost out on another $63 million in federal matching funds that would have accompanied the higher spending...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a $131.4 billion budget Friday - the first on-time state spending plan in six years - after vetoing $112 million for programs ranging from court translators to air pollution control. "It's a great day to celebrate. It's a big day for California," Schwarzenegger said at a signing ceremony that included legislative leaders of both parties. The former Hollywood star took the unusual step of holding the ceremony in the Capitol rotunda, where tourists looked on from the wings and a second-floor gallery, about 12 hours before the start of a new fiscal year. Lawmakers approved the...

SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday vetoed legislation that would have granted driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, saying that approving the measure into law could have undermined national security efforts. The veto was expected and marked the second time Schwarzenegger has rejected such a bill. "Enacting this bill will result in billions of dollars being spent on a process that ultimately could conflict with federal regulations," he said in his veto message. The bill's author, Los Angeles Democrat Gil Cedillo, said the veto broke Schwarzenegger's promise to sign a driver's license bill. He also said the rejection jeopardizes...