|
September 30, 2008
Governor's vetoes
Today, we learned that Governor Schwarzenegger has vetoed two important bills that FCL played key roles in advancing.
Senate Bill 1322, by Senator Alan Lowenthal, D., Long Beach, would have created a religious exemption to the loyalty oath requirement for public employees and conforms California law to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that simple membership in any association is constitutionally protected and is not grounds for having one's employment terminated.
The governor’s veto message made no mention of the loyalty oath or the issue of religious freedom and demonstrated no understanding that the removal of obsolete language concerning Communist Party membership was technical in nature. Moreover, the governor seems to think that removing the obsolete language would make it easier to overthrow the U.S. or state government.
The federal No Child Left Behind act links federal funding for schools to providing access to military recruiters. The act also allows parents and students to opt out from having pupils' contact information provided to recruiters. Assembly Bill 2994, by Sally Lieber, D., Mountain View, would have given parents and students the opportunity to opt out from having pupils’ contact information provided to military recruiters without their consent on the emergency notification cards that are already sent home with students at the beginning of each school year and are kept on file in school offices.
The governor’s veto message indicates that adding this option to emergency notification cards was too restrictive on schools. Apparently the governor yielded to political pressure and invented an excuse to veto the bill.
Other vetoes of bills supported by FCL:
Assembly Bill 2937, by Jose Solorio, D., Santa Ana, would have extended the time that wrongfully convicted persons have to file a claim for compensation and would have required counties to provide re-entry services.
The governor’s veto message confuses financial compensation (which very few wrongfully convicted persons ever receive) with re-entry services. As a result of the governor’s veto, people who were innocent will not be entitled to re-entry services, though people guilty of their crimes will continue to receive them.
Senate Bill 1589, by Senator Gloria Romero, D., Los Angeles, would require that “snitch testimony” that is not corroborated by other evidence cannot be used to convict a defendant, find a special circumstance, or an aggravating circumstance.
The governor’s veto message erroneously claims that the legislation “. . . would usurp the juries' function by fixing in statute a rule that all in-custody informants have lied before the fact.” This bill does no such thing. It merely requires that the testimony of in-custody defendants be corroborated by other evidence.
Many thanks to those who wrote letters and made phone calls in support of these bills. We were disappointed by the governor’s vetoes, but will continue to advocate for these issues in the following session.
Sincerely yours,
Jim Lindburg
Legislative Advocate
Friends Committee on Legislation
717 K St., Suite 500-B
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 443-3734
Click Here to Donate to the FCL
|
