Good Work in Sacramento

Was that some magic potion infecting Sacramento last week? If so, it could be bottled and sold for a fortune. The mood was one of conciliation and compromise right down to the end of the 1989 California Legislature. Intractable issues of the sort that had put Democratic legislative leaders and Republican Gov. George Deukmejian at bitter odds for years suddenly got resolved. After too many sessions in which it seemed that California’s leaders were more interested in their own political stock than the future of the state, the current Legislature produced a remarkable record of achievement.

Recent legislative closings too often were marked by exchanges of recrimination over who was to blame for the defeat of important legislation. Wrap-up summaries focused on unmet needs and legislators succumbing to the fear of political retribution. But when the final gavel fell along about 4 a.m. this past Saturday, observers marveled at the number of eleventh-hour compromises that had salvaged important legislation. Democrats and Republicans found themselves commending each other--and seeming to mean it.

Not all was perfect, of course. About $150 million in budget items remain unresolved. Important reforms in the fields of health insurance and workers’ compensation had to be scaled back to limited measures. There is plenty of work left for the second half of the session beginning next January, with election-year politics threatening to undermine 1989’s mood of constructive amiability.

Also, two major packages approved this year cannot be implemented unless they get voter approval at the June primary election. Democrats and Republicans will have to work together if there is any chance of selling voters on the vitally needed $18.5 billion state transportation program and reform of the Gann spending limits. The same is true for a legislative ethics package that offers the prospect of a pay raise in exchange for the loss of Sacramento frills, such as speaking honorarium, that tend to to tie lawmakers too closely to big-money lobbying groups.

But the list of achievements still is impressive, including a major new state solid-waste management and recycling program, a limited ban on assault rifles and a landmark agreement on preserving Mono Lake against water diversions to Los Angeles. Some other significant victories overlooked in the rush toward adjournment include Assemblyman Bruce Bronzan’s (D-Fresno) Food Safety Act of 1989 that would provide Californians further protection against pesticides and Sen. John Garamendi’s (D-Walnut Grove) legislation to re-establish California’s 10% solar energy tax credit.

All this productivity is not entirely the result of a passion for good public policy. Both the Legislature and governor had been sharply criticized for failing to deal with problems that were eroding the quality of California life. Legislative leaders battled for the survival of their image and their power positions. The governor, who is not seeking a third term, involved himself as never before to rescue his legacy from threatened mediocrity.

There is no assurance that this level of bipartisan cooperation can be sustained. It will take an active governor and an independent Legislature willing to buck special-interest groups and campaign contributors in the interests of the good of the whole state. The completion of a strong legislative ethics program and campaign finance reform will help give the lawmakers that sort of courage.

For now, though, the governor and lawmakers deserve to take more than a few bows for achieving perhaps the most productive legislative record in recent California history.