Legislation California

This is it for Gov. Pete Wilson, the end of the game. Not only is it his last at-bat, it's his last swing. It's his last week to drive in runs, to produce legislation. He's mainly playing for more education reforms, a school bond issue with construction finance reforms and a water bond that agriculture can support. The 1997-98 legislative session--Wilson's last as governor--will be history by next Monday. After that, his role in the Capitol will be essentially reactive--signing or vetoing bills.

The mercury topped 100 degrees on the sidewalk beneath the Target store's bright red bull's-eye, but petition-touting Joan Mitchell barely broke a sweat as she pounced on unsuspecting shoppers in Woodland Hills on Sunday afternoon. After all, this may have been Mitchell's last Sunday collecting signatures--or maybe not. "OK, so it's hot and a lot of people really don't want me in their face, but time is short," she said.

The state budget is as good as signed. The governor's race has yet to ignite. There is a vacuum of sorts, and politics abhors a vacuum. So into the gap rushes California's quadrennial exercise in salving its neurotic insecurity. You might know it by its more common name--the debate over the early primary. Let us reminisce: Not since 1972 has California helped choose a major party's presidential nominee.

Angering local air-quality officials and environmentalists, Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday vetoed a clean-air bill that would have provided nearly $10 million a year for creating advanced low-polluting vehicles and fuels to combat smog in the Los Angeles Basin. The veto abolishes a 10-year-old program in which motorists in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties are charged a $1 fee when they renew their car registration.

Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday signed into law a bill by an Orange County lawmaker that attempts to give California cities more power to regulate nude dance clubs. The measure by Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) goes into effect Jan. 1. Under the new law, cities can adopt tighter rules on conduct inside the clubs. For instance, city leaders could restrict dancers from direct contact with patrons and require that a stage be better separated from the audience.

Gov. Pete Wilson on Tuesday signed legislation imposing strict standards on out-of-state camps that accept troubled California youths for military-style training and rehabilitation. Other sections of the wide-ranging juvenile care bill require new oversight and audits over foster homes and group homes for children removed by court orders from the custody of their parents.

An Assembly bill designed to prevent the unexpected eviction of nursing home residents in the event of the home's bankruptcy won the final approval Tuesday of the state Legislature. Assemblyman Robert M. Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) drafted the measure after a bankrupt Reseda nursing home evicted 63 residents without warning late on a Friday night last fall, frightening patients and panicking their families.

With only nine days left to collect signatures, activists petitioning for a San Fernando Valley secession study acknowledged Tuesday they are still 35% short of their goal, but expressed confidence that they would reach it. Veterans of other petition-circulating campaigns said that the Valley group is facing an uphill task and may have made a mistake in selecting the difficult summer period for its effort.

Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and City Councilwoman Laura Chick said Friday they hope to craft emergency legislation to give San Fernando Valley activists more time to petition for a study and possible vote on secession. Hertzberg said the process will be extremely difficult because the California Legislature will recess at the end of the month, but he remained hopeful.

A bill that would have allowed Westwood Village developer Ira Smedra to begin construction on Glendon Avenue without waiting for adjudication and payment of claims filed by affected property owners was voted down in the Legislature this week. After hearing lengthy testimony against the legislation, which would have amended state law governing pedestrian malls, the Senate Local Government Committee voted against it.