In November 1966, Californians elected Ronald Reagan governor, giving him 57% of the vote. Less remembered is how overwhelmingly they approved Proposition 1A, a sweeping government reform package whose centerpiece was a full-time Legislature. Some 73.5% of voters backed the proposition's constitutional amendments, which were endorsed by both Reagan and then-Gov. Pat Brown.
Today, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to support an initiative that would return the Legislature to part-time status. Anti-tax activist Ted Costa and his political group, People's Advocate -- a force behind the recall of former Gov. Gray Davis -- have begun collecting signatures for such an initiative. Its success could depend on Schwarzenegger. "If he decided 'I am sick and tired, I am going to support this,' " said Bob Stern of the Center for Governmental Studies, "then it really could happen."
As someone who went to Sacramento in 1966 to help build the staff of California's new, professional Legislature, I have a little history lesson for our novice governor.
From its admission to the Union in 1850 until Proposition 1A passed, California's Legislature met part time. By the 1960s, however, it was increasingly in session long after the constitutional deadline for adjournment; special session after special session was called to deal with burgeoning and complex policy issues.
Jesse Unruh, then the Assembly speaker, spearheaded the reform drive. Proposition 1A, Unruh contended, would institutionalize a de facto full-time Legislature and give it the authority to meet its responsibilities and the resources necessary to exercise that authority.
By offering legislators a full-time job with a full-time salary, Unruh hoped to steer them away from conflicts of interest inherent in outside employment and to make lawmakers less dependent on lobbyists' largess -- and more beholden to him. It didn't hurt that the Legislature, with its new status, would also gain increased clout in its relations with the governor.
That's what the system of checks and balances is all about. But Schwarzenegger, bruised in the recently concluded budget battle, appears to be impatient with process. He seems more comfortable with the art of the quick deal than with the taffy pull of lawmaking.
In demanding instant legislative gratification, Schwarzenegger is a governor for our times. He mirrors the mind-set of voters accustomed to watching the most horrendous crimes solved in an hour, minus the commercials. After all, this is a man who routinely saved the whole world in two hours or so.
