What did the governor sign and veto this week?

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Yesterday was Governor Arnold Schwarzengger's deadline to sign or veto bills. Turns out that he signed a whole bunch of bills except the budget. What's changed for California this week, and what has the governor rejected?

The Governor signed:

September 27: Assembly Bill 1601 (Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo): for people convicted of DUIs past their third within 10 years. Takes effect January 1, 2012.

September 29: Senate Bill 1399 (Mark Leno, D-San Francisco): Allows prisons to send "permanently medically incapacitated" inmates to 24-hour care facilities on medical parole. May save around $40 million per year. Senator Leno noted that California "has more than doubled its general fund spending on prison health care over the last eight years, from 5.3 to 11 percent."

September 30: AB 2079 (Tom Torlakson, D-Contra Costa): California colleges and universities must fully disclose athletic scholarships in order to "protect student athletes from verbal promises made about college scholarships that can't be kept". Also AB 1602 (John Pérez, D-Los Angeles) and SB 900 (Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara): Both bills establish the California Health Benefit Exchange, a health care marketplace mandated by the federal health care reform law. California is now the first US state to offer such an exchange, which will open in 2014. Also SB 1381 (Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto): Children must turn 5 by Sept. 1 (earlier from Dec. 2) to start kindergarten. Also SB 1449 (Leno): Degraded marijuana possession from misdemeanor to an infraction (like traffic tickets). Although the governor opposes the marijuana-legalizing Proposition 19, the governor said: "In this time of drastic budget cuts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement and the courts cannot afford to expend limited resources prosecuting a crime that carries the same punishment as a traffic ticket."

The Governator vetoed:

September 27: AB 1656 (Fiona Ma, D-San Mateo): Would have required clothing manufacturers to disclose materials used in products (including furs).

September 29: SB 933 (Jenny Oropez, D-Long Beach): To ban merchants from charging customers for using debit cards.

September 30: AB 1822 (Sandré Swanson, D-Alameda): Would have required that the California Massage Therapy Council include law enforcement officers. Also AB 2419 (Paul Cook, R-Yucaipa): Proposed removing the apostrophe from every mention of "Contractors' State License Law" in the California Code. Follow the previous link to read the governor's rather witty veto letter. Also AB 2446 (Warren Furutani, D-South Los Angeles County): Would have allowed students to substitute the fine arts/foreign language class for a vocational class instead as part of their high school graduation requirements. The San Jose Mercury News reported: "Though he is a longtime proponent of expanding vocational education, Schwarzenegger's veto message said he 'was unable to sign' the bill because it did not include limits on new costs to school districts" and "While education reformers have called for stiffer academic requirements that prepare more students for college, the bill would help create a two-tier system, they charged." Also, the governor vetoed SB 330 (Leland Yee, D-San Francisco), which would have required California public university foundations to disclose finances per the Public Records Act. The Assembly voted on this bill in the wake of the Sarah Palin speech controversy at California State University at Stanislaus.

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1. Some follow-up notes:

LA Times reports on two child-welfare bills that the Guv signed:

AB 2322 by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), authorizes the inclusion of information regarding crimes against a child by any people living in a child's home. Social workers currently access data about convictions by contacting county law enforcement, but then must wait days or even weeks for the information.

AB 2229 by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) eliminates the need to form a three-person committee every time information is shared between separate county departments during a child-abuse investigation.

Also, the governor is targeting the Hollywood paparazzi:

The paparazzi bill, AB 2479 by Assemblywoman Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), imposes stiff penalties — including possible jail time — for photographers who cross the line. Reckless driving and trespassing already are illegal, so singling out photographers for special prosecution is an affront to the 1st Amendment, argued the California Newspaper Publishers Assn.

Also, notice that every bill that Schwarzengger signed (as far as I've heard in the media) was authored by Democrats and the one silly bill (regarding the apostrophe) was authored by a Republican? I guess I've learned what "limited government" means.

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2. Also vetoed Holocaust Survivors Responsibility Act

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed legislation that would have required rail companies interested in working on the California high-speed train project to admit whether they transported people to concentration camps during World War II.

Though he said he sympathized with the victims of Nazi death camps, the governor rejected the Holocaust Survivors Responsibility Act on Thursday night, contending it would have needlessly placed the state in a position of acknowledging the activities of companies during a war that ended 65 years ago.

The bill by Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield (D- Woodland Hills) would have forced companies to disclose their role in wartime atrocities if they submitted bids to the California High Speed Rail Authority, which is planning an 800-mile system from San Diego to San Francisco.

Full story: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-holocaust-20101002,0,1074921.story