SACRAMENTO — Challenging a tradition favored by both parties and Capitol lobbyists, the Schwarzenegger administration is threatening to veto last-minute legislation that pops up before the end of the session in three weeks.
Every year, legislation shows up seemingly out of nowhere and gets rushed through the Assembly and Senate without much public scrutiny.
Lawmakers accomplish this by stripping dormant or dead bills of their entire contents and replacing them with the new legislation -- a maneuver called "gut and amend."
But the governor's legislative secretary, Richard Costigan, said Schwarzenegger would look with skepticism at gut-and-amend bills on major issues "unless it's necessary for the public good," such as an emergency or a disaster. "I keep telling folks: Recognize that it can take us months to get departments, finance and agencies to do analyses," Costigan said. "A gut-and-amend is not going to be looked upon favorably unless there is a compelling public interest."
This week, for instance, lawmakers are preparing to eviscerate a bill on public education and replace it with legislation allowing U.S. soldiers overseas to be married by proxy back home. The legislation is designed to accommodate soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere who may not be able to return home to be married.
Another would substitute legislation on wages with a bill giving mothers greater power in child-custody disputes. The last-minute legislation overrules a recent state Supreme Court decision that said the child's "best interest" must be considered -- meaning fathers could prohibit mothers who have custody of their children from moving too far away.
These bills are likely to get committee hearings, since there still is time before the end of session at midnight Aug. 31. If history is repeated, however, lawmakers will attempt to make major public policy changes in the final hours of work. The state Constitution forbids any legislation being passed after Aug. 31, unless there is an emergency.
In some cases, bills have been written and passed by both houses in a matter of hours before the end of session -- like a $931-million tax cut approved in 1997 during a midnight round of negotiating. In that case, then-Gov. Pete Wilson worked closely with Republican and Democratic leaders, but there was almost no public discussion of their maneuvers.
