Late-Session Legislative Wrap Up

Continuing a pattern of anti-union actions, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his blue-pencil veto power to kill a key CTA-sponsored retirement measure and 29 other Association-backed measures sent to him in the last days of the legislative session.

A gubernatorial veto killed AB 55, the CTA-sponsored measure by Assembly Member Gene Mullin (D-San Francisco) that would have restored $500 million plus interest in funds withheld by the state in 2003 from the State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS). These funds should have gone to the CalSTRS Supplemental Benefit Maintenance Account (SBMA) that provides inflation adjustments to long-retired teachers. These retirees - mainly female teachers in their 80s - have seen their paychecks devastated by inflation over the years.

The veto was particularly troubling because the bill cleared both the Senate and the Assembly with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Ironically, the veto puts the state at greater financial risk at a time the governor has been incapable of balancing the state's budget. Specifically, AB 55 would have allowed the state to pay off its debt plus reasonable interest to CalSTRS over several years.

Instead, a pending lawsuit is likely to force the state to repay the money - plus interest - all at once.

In vetoing the measure, the governor said he would reconsider the proposal if it had more specific language relating to the pending lawsuit. But Capitol observers note that last year the governor made similar promises when he vetoed a measure to provide undocumented workers with drivers' licenses. Sen. Gilbert Cedillo resubmitted SB 60 this year with the changes Gov. Schwarzenegger demanded, but the governor vetoed that CTA-backed measure again in 2005.

The governor vetoed seven CTA-supported measures and 22 CTA-approved bills. He also signed one CTA-opposed measure.

All told, a meager 52% of the governor's decisions on the bills sent to him in late August and early September were in line with CTA policy recommendations. A full 30 of his decisions went directly against CTA State Council of Education's positions.

Among these actions were vetoes of bills that would have implemented an agreement to provide more flexibility in passing the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) for students with special needs.

Rush to Judgment

Many of the governor's actions on CTA position bills came just before the signing deadline, including his veto of AB 55 (Mullin).

In fact, in a round of legislative actions announced on October 7, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed three CTA-backed measures and vetoed eight others.

The governor signed CTA-approved SB 525 (Torlakson), which requires that the distribution of CalSTRS funds begin not later than April 1 of the calendar year in which the member attains the age at which the Internal Revenue Code requires a distribution of benefits for the calendar year the member becomes 70 1/2 years of age, or the calendar year that the member terminates employment.

The governor signed two other measures on that date, bills his press office called part of a "child protection package." The first, AB 1633 (Evans), is a CTA-supported bill that extends the opportunity to remain in foster care placement beyond the age of 18 years to a foster child who is pursuing a high school equivalency certificate. The second, SB 37 (Speier), is a CTA-approved bill that expands the existing California High School Coaching Education and Training Program to include information about the harmful effects associated with the use of steroids and performance-enhancing dietary supplements by adolescents.

That same day, the governor vetoed four CTA-supported measures, including SB 60 (Cedillo) that would have allowed non-documented California residents to qualify for driver's licenses, and SB 586 (Romero), which would have exempted students with disabilities from the requirement of passing the California high school exit exam as a condition of receiving a high school diploma, until the State Superintendent of Public Instruction implements a statewide alternative or alternatives to the high school exam.

The third vetoed CTA-supported measure, SB 161 (Soto), would have required the State Department of Education to develop, post on its web site, and share with students a statement of student rights, including rights related to medical care, adoption procedures, criminal procedures, and discrimination in schools.

The fourth CTA-supported measure he vetoed then was AB 13 (Goldberg), a measure that would have banned schools from using the derogatory name "Redskins" for its mascots.

The governor also vetoed five CTA-approved measures, including AB 1531 (Bass), which would have required a charter school to notify and provide a copy of the cumulative record to the district of residence of a pupil who is expelled or leaves the charter school without graduating or completing the school year.

The other four vetoed CTA-approved measures include:

SB 688 (Speier), which would have required school districts to provide instruction to students in K-12 relating to skin cancer prevention.

AB 482 (Hancock), which would have required limited English proficient students who are enrolled in grades 2-11 and who either receive instruction in their primary language or have been enrolled in a U.S. school for less than 12 months to take a second achievement test in their primary language, if a test is available. Effective July 1, 2007 the primary language test provision would have applied only to students in grades 3-11.

AB 593 (Frommer), which would have created the California Hope Endowment and Public Trust to revert state-owned real estate into an endowment to expand the number of students attending college and receiving degrees.

AB 952 (Coto), which would have authorized the East Side Union High School District to use the proceeds from the sale of surplus real and personal property to deposit the proceeds into the general fund of the school district, and to use the proceeds from that transaction for any one-time general fund purpose.