But to their mutual benefit, they eventually warmed to each other. What followed was a bumper crop of ambitious legislation, especially in 2006.
"Speaker Nunez and I have had a lot of successes together," Schwarzenegger said Friday through a spokesman. " . . . I wish him all the best in this next phase of his life."
The two agreed on laws to raise the minimum wage from $6.75 to $8 an hour, to allow phone companies to sell pay TV and to reduce prescription drug costs for about 6 million uninsured Californians.
--
Healthcare plan
To great fanfare, they struck an accord to scale back California's greenhouse gas emissions by 25%. And they teamed on a sweeping $14.9-billion plan to extend healthcare coverage to most uninsured Californians -- but it was defeated by senators concerned that it could drain state coffers.
That work may not be over, Nunez said last week: "I want to figure out outside this building how I can build the types of coalitions that can get major issues like healthcare done."
As one of five top leaders negotiating the annual state budget, Nunez successfully resisted most cuts that would have hurt the poor, disabled and elderly. And he surprised many observers by being willing to upset organized labor by approving tribal gambling compacts it opposed and embracing provisions in healthcare legislation that unions said were onerous to workers.
Nunez described himself as a champion of the people's interests, but sometimes the public paid for moves that could help special interests.
--
Pushed vehicle fees
After midnight on the final day of last year's legislative session, Nunez pushed through a bill that increased registration fees for cars and trucks by as much as $10. Although the money was to subsidize clean-fuel development, opponents said the funds could be used by oil companies to pay for pollution-reduction measures they were already required to take. Nunez has since said a giveaway to oil companies was unintended and has written a second bill, now pending, to clarify the law.
Nunez's final endeavor could fundamentally change the Legislature -- and correct one of his most marked failures. In his seven remaining months as an Assemblyman, Nunez will try for a second time to ease term limits so legislators can stay in office longer. He will tie the proposal to one that would transfer to an independent panel the Legislature's power to draw its own districts.
