Senate Elects New Secretary to Replace Prop. 140 Departure

The Senate has elected Rick Rollens as its new secretary. He succeeds Darryl White, who after 27 years recently retired in the wake of the voter-approved Proposition 140, which ordered massive legislative staff cutbacks.

A 15-year veteran of the upper house, Rollens, 39, will serve as the Senate’s chief parliamentarian, whose duties include ensuring that debate and other action follow official guidelines. His annual salary will be $94,000.

Rollens started as an administrative assistant to Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana). He also was a consultant to the Senate Select Committee on Public Transportation Problems in Los Angeles.

In 1984, he established the bipartisan Office of Senate Floor Analyses, which prepares digests of all bills. He also will continue to oversee its operations.

GOVERNOR

* Appointed Tim Coyle of San Diego, formerly assistant secretary for legislation and congressional relations for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, as director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development. A Republican, Coyle, 38, will receive $99,805 a year in his new post. The action is subject to Senate confirmation.

* Will attend a border governors’ conference in Hermosillo, Mexico, today and Friday.

ASSEMBLY

Bill Introductions

* Handgun Safety: AB 618 by Assemblyman Rusty Areias (D-Los Banos) would require anyone purchasing a handgun after Jan. 1, 1993, to first take a basic firearms safety course.

* Sales Contracts: AB 585 by Assemblywoman Bev Hansen (R-Santa Rosa) would give purchasers 65 years or older the right to change their minds and cancel home solicitation sales contracts 14 days instead of three days after signature.

* Fishing Licenses: AB 578 by Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles) would provide free state fishing licenses for persons 62 years or older.

* Boat Registration: AB 494 by Assemblyman Robert J. Campbell (D-Richmond) would increase the annual state boat registration fee from $5 to $12.

* Adult Education: ACR 22 by Assemblyman Phillip Wyman (R-Tehachapi) would proclaim the week of March 11-15 as Adult Education Week.

SENATE

Committee Action

* Assault Guns: The Appropriations Committee approved and sent to the floor on a 9-2 vote a bill (SB 263) by Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) to give owners of assault weapons an additional 90 days to register their guns with the state Department of Justice. The deadline for registering these firearms was last Jan. 1, but only a relative handful of an estimated 300,000 such guns were registered on time.

Bill Introductions

* Bond Issues: SCA 11 by Sen. Becky Morgan (R-Los Altos Hills) would require a two-thirds vote for approval of statewide bond issues placed on the ballot by the initiative process and a simple majority vote for approval of local capital construction bond issues.

* Insurance Executives: SB 389 by Sen. Patrick Johnston (D-Stockton) would prohibit insurance company executives who have misused company assets or committed other crimes from future employment in the insurance industry.

* Drug Penalties: SB 386 by Sen. Lucy Killea (D-San Diego) would increase the penalty for laundering illegal drug profits to include a mandatory fine of $250,000 or twice the value of the proceeds for each offense.

* Parks Bonds: SB 387 by Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose) would place on the June, 1992, ballot a $300-million bond issue for acquisition and improvement of parks and recreational facilities.

Miscellany

* Physical Fitness: Gov. Pete Wilson did a dozen pushups and a set of jumping jacks with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and a Sacramento fourth-grade elementary school physical education class to encourage physical fitness among California children. “The more you do it, the easier it gets and the better you feel about yourself,” the governor, an ex-Marine who works out daily, told the students. Schwarzenegger, the chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, is on a cross-country tour to promote physical fitness of children. He asked Wilson to create a special council on fitness for California children and the governor agreed.

Capital Fact

The official state flower is the golden poppy.