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Topic/Summary |
Governor’s Veto Message |
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AB 13 (Goldberg) California Racial Mascots Act: athletic team names and mascots. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 13 without my signature. I vetoed a nearly identical bill last year because it added another non-academic state administrative requirement, thereby diverting focus from increasing student academic achievement. Administrative decisions regarding athletic team names, nicknames or mascots should be retained at the local level. Therefore, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 15 (Horton, Jerome) Curriculum: social studies. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 15 without my signature. While I respect the authors intent to recognize the contributions of the Filipino people during World War II, State content standards and curriculum frameworks are necessarily broad, allowing for coverage of many important historical events and cultural developments. In fact, nothing in current law prohibits teachers today from recognizing the role of Filipinos in World War II. Last year, I vetoed a nearly identical bill, AB 2512 (Horton, 2004), on the basis that current law already provides the necessary flexibility and that the State should refrain from being overly prescriptive. The veto message remains applicable and, thus, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 47 (Cohn) Public contracts: Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: medical care services. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 47 without my signature. It is unnecessary to codify the policy directive contained in the Department of General Services (DGS) Management Memo 05-04 since the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) is already using a competitive bidding process for medical contracts where appropriate. This bill will impede the necessary flexibility to administer the critical medical services provided by DCR. DGS policy has eliminated the blanket policy exemption and established new requirements regarding medical services contract bidding exemptions for all state departments. For these reasons I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 51 (Koretz) Apprenticeship programs. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 51 without my signature. This bill is nearly identical to a bill I vetoed last year because it was unnecessary. I am not aware of any compelling evidence that would warrant the extensive reporting requirements from every apprentice program that are called for in this bill. As I noted in my previous veto message, all apprenticeship programs currently undergo an approval and oversight process through the Division of Apprenticeship Standards to ensure that these programs function effectively. Furthermore, I recently signed legislation which provided major new investments in the state's vocational education system. Assembly Bill 51 has the potential to limit apprenticeship opportunities for young Californians, which is contrary to the bipartisan efforts to expand the vocational education system. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 54 (Negrete McLeod) Surplus state property.
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To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 54 without my signature. I am greatly concerned with the provisions that were amended into this measure, without the benefit of a public hearing, requiring the Department of General Services (DGS) to initiate a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process on the properties identified prior to any sale, lease or exchange. This provision has the potential of costing California taxpayers millions of dollars. Applying the CEQA process to these surplus properties prior to sale may result in unnecessary litigation, prolonged escrow periods and missed opportunities for the State to reduce its financial obligations under the voter approved Proposition 60A. Historically, surplus properties have generally been exempted from the CEQA process since the developer must provide for CEQA when the property is eventually developed. Therefore, I am asking DGS to work with the Legislature to correct this unfortunate amendment and pass legislation to exempt the State and these properties from the CEQA process. Until that time, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 55 (Mullin) State teachers' retirement: appropriations. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 55 without my signature. The payment contemplated in this bill is the subject of ongoing litigation, yet this bill does not end the lawsuit. This bill would authorize payments equaling over $800 million to the Supplemental Benefit Maintenance Account. In 2003 the Legislature determined, on a one-time basis, that a payment of $500 million was unnecessary to provide purchasing power protection to retired teachers. That determination is the subject of ongoing litigation. This additional payment of $800 mill ion would not resolve that litigation. If this bill made it clear it settled the lawsuit, I would consider signing it. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 89 (Horton, Jerome) Health care: employer coverage: disclosure. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 89 without my signature. Although I share the Legislatures interest in exploring ways to provide health coverage to the uninsured, I have doubts that this report would provide useful information. The report would not account for the complex and multi-faceted decision-making process that employees and employers consider when choosing health insurance options or differentiate between part-time, seasonal and full-time workers. Rather than imposing new reporting mandates that will be of limited or no benefit, we should strategically focus marketing of public health care programs to the harder to reach and under-enrolled Medi-Cal and Healthy Families populations. The Legislature did just that in the current budget when, at my request, they appropriated funds to reinstate the Healthy Families Certified Application Assistance program (CAA). The CAA program has proven to be an effective means for successfully enrolling children in Healthy Families and Medi-Cal. Such focused, strategic investments will actually help us enroll more eligible Californians in Medi-Cal and Health Families. The report required by this bill will do nothing to decrease the number of uninsured and I do not believe that it will yield valuable information to help in this effort. For these reasons, I am returning Assembly Bill 89 without my signature. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 97 (Cohn) School budget reserves. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 97 without my signature. School district reserve levels have been established to help districts manage budget resources wisely, to avoid fiscal problems and to identify and correct developing fiscal problems early. Relaxing minimum budget reserve standards for school districts experiencing enrollment declines would weaken the states fiscal accountability standards and could lead to future school districts fiscal insolvencies. Furthermore, current law already addresses the issue of declining enrollments by funding the district at the greater of prior or current year attendance, so districts have a one year cushion to address budget reserve levels. Therefore, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 169 (Oropeza) Gender pay equity. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 169 without my signature. I remain supportive of reasonable efforts to eradicate the historical trend of women earning less than men for doing the same work, however I still do not believe the provisions of this bill or last years Assembly Bill 2317 are necessary in order to achieve this goal. Current state and federal laws forbid paying an individual lower wages on account of gender and provide stiff civil and criminal penalties against employers that do so. The elimination of judicial discretion to modify the penalty coupled with the massive increases in fines will do nothing more than increase frivolous litigation and could lead to the same shakedown lawsuits that the citizens of California voted to curb last year by passing Proposition 64. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 239 (Horton, Jerome) Governor's Budget: services contracts. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 239 without my signature. This bill would require the Governor to submit with the Budget a report that contains specific information regarding current and proposed contracts for services. The State already has an electronic reporting system that tracks the purchase of goods, services and information on contracts over $5,000. This system became effective on July 1, 2003, and all State agencies are required to enter information on their existing contracts. The bill would require that the information also be reported on proposed contracts it is questionable how that could ever be captured, and since there is no monetary limit on the size of contract to be re ported under this scenario, a purchase of $100 would have to be reported. Furthermore, this bill does not include any funding to create a new system or expand upon the States existing reporting system. For these reasons I am unable to support this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 240 (Bermudez) Sex offenders.
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To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 240 without my signature. This bill fails to address the critical components needed to ensure sex offenders do not have access to state funded erectile dysfunction medication. Instead, I am signing AB 522 which contains the statutory language which ensures the Department of Justice must provide the Department of Health Services the information necessary to implement the prohibition. AB 240 also fails to expand the ban to automated drug delivery systems in pharmacies, thereby creating a loophole that could result in prohibited sex offenders receiving the medication. AB 522 contains language to ensure no loopholes exist. In addition, AB 240 does not broadly protect California's children to the level that they deserve but instead simply puts a band-aid on a growing problem. I call on the Legislature to quickly send my sponsored bills AB 231 and SB 588 which will do more to protect children than placing limited restrictions on one small segment of the parolee population. We should enact provisions that will allow for residency restrictions for all sex offenders, not just the 254 parolees that this bill potentially affects. My bill would place more stringent restrictions on 9,231 parolees and monitor them on GPS. If the Legislature is serious about protecting children from sex offenders, I call on them to send me AB 231 and SB 588, the most comprehensive reform of our sex offender statutes. For these reasons I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 310 (Umberg) Investment plans: mandatory defined contribution and other mandatory retirement plans. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 310 without my signature. If a mandatory defined contribution plan is established for state and local government employees, I believe that the qualifications and standards for its investment providers is an extremely important consideration. Absent such a plan, this bill is unnecessary. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 384 (Nation) Class size reduction. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 384 without my signature. I am a strong supporter of reduced class sizes as a way of fostering a productive learning environment for students and want to maintain a 20:1 student-teacher ratio in eligible classrooms. However, current law allows districts like Petaluma Joint Union High School District to present its case of special circumstances to justify waiving specific class size reduction (CSR) requirements. The State Board of Education is responsible for granting waivers from specific program requirements, when appropriate. In 2004, the State Board already denied Petaluma Joint Union High School Districts request for a waiver of the CSR 20:1 ratio. It is inappropriate for the Legislature to undermine the State Boards authority by circumventing the boards administrative decision with this bill. Therefore, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 388 (Canciamilla) Instructional materials: adoption process: publishers and manufacturers: prices. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 388 without my signature. I vetoed a nearly identical bill last year, AB 2455 (Canciamilla). The veto message remains applicable. However, a study by the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) may provide valuable information for strategies to reduce the rising costs of textbooks and other instructional materials. Since legislation is not required for the SPI to recommend ways to reduce instructional materials costs for school districts, I encourage Superintendent O'Connell to provide any applicable information that could potentially yield recommendation for school districts, legislators, the State Board of Education, and the Administration. Until that time, it is premature to enact any substantive policy changes to the adoption process. Therefore, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 443 (Yee) School food sales. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 443 without my signature. While I applaud the authors interest in student nutrition issues, this bill would have little direct impact on the nutritional value of foods made available to students, by merely codifying in state law activities that the State Board of Education already has the authority to do. I support a more direct approach in impacting student health and nutrition issues in our schools. This is why I have recently signed into law SB 12, SB 965, and SB 281 to eliminate junk food and soda from camp uses, and increase the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables available to students. Those important measures will make a more significant impact on improving the quality of food choices available to California students. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill at this time. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 444 (Yee) School food: nutrition guidelines. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 444 without my signature. This bill will have little direct impact on the nutritional value of foods made available to students, since it merely requires the California Department of Education to consider revising its nutritional guidelines. Simply revising state level guidelines without any implementation or enforcement mechanism does not address the proliferation of unhealthy foods in any effective or timely manner. I support a more direct approach in impacting student health and nutrition issues in our schools. This is why I have recently signed into law SB 12, SB 965, and SB 281 to eliminate junk food and soda from campuses, and increase the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables available to students. Those important measures will make a more significant impact on improving the quality of food choices available to California students. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill at this time. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 455 (Goldberg) Educational counseling: pupil plans: at-risk pupils.
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To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 455 (Goldberg) without my signature. While I appreciate the authors intent to address the needs of at-risk students, this bill does not effectively meet that objective. In fact, by imposing additional prescriptive requirements on districts that choose to offer comprehensive counseling programs, this bill could have the unintended effect of discouraging districts from offering such programs. Therefore, since nothing in current law prohibits school districts from including an academic plan for at-risk pupils in their educational counseling programs, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 482 (Hancock) Pupil assessment: English language learners. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 482 without my signature. Instead, I am signing Senate Bill 755 (Poochigian), which addresses many of the same issues identified in this bill, including specifying the conditions under which English learners who receive instruction in their primary language must be administered a second test in this language. Unlike this bill, SB 755 also appropriates $2.285 million to cover costs incurred in 2004-05 for maintaining and scoring the writing assessments pursuant to the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program an d makes additional technical, conforming changes. For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 490 (Parra) Formal bids: notices. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 490 without my signature. Nothing in current law precludes a school district from sending bid notices to construction trade journals. In fact, current law already requires school districts to advertise bidding opportunities in newspapers of general circulation and allows them to post a notice on the districts website or electronic portal. This bill would require school districts to send bill notices directly to construction trade journals. Mandating this practice will simply result in a reimbursable cost to prepare and mail the additional bid notices. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 499 (Leno) Public contracts: preferences: small and local businesses: San Francisco Community College District. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 499 (Leno) without my signature. Encouraging the growth and stability of local business is an objective that I fully support. However, this bill could increase the contracting and operating costs of the San Francisco Community College District. Public agencies should focus on getting the most cost effective solution for taxpayers. This bill would place geographic proximity as a higher priority than cost effectiveness. For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 518 (Canciamilla) State Budget: Department of Finance Reports. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 518 without my signature. Inherent in any long-range fiscal projections are dramatic swings in the state's economy that forecasting models have historically failed to predict. Most long-range projections in the late 1990s, for example, failed to anticipate the dramatic decline in revenues associated with the collapse of the dot-com "boom." Conversely, the revenues associated with this year's tax amnesty program far outstripped projections made as recently as one year ago. While the state has been on this revenue roller coaster, it has failed in the past to act responsibly on the expenditure side. Programs were expanded during the dot-com boom without regard of the state's long-term ability to afford them. When that boom went bust, those programs were financed in large measure by borrowing and fund shifts creating the structural gap between revenues and expenditures that we continue to work to close. I share the concerns of the author over the state's long-term fiscal outlook. It is precisely why I have argued strongly this year and I continue to argue strongly for the need to implement fundamental reform of the state's budgeting system. Such a reform would keep spending in check during these swings in revenue, and thereby improve the state's long-term fiscal outlook. The Department of Finance works on long-rage forecasts by making projections in major agency areas, not by department as would be required by this bill. We will continue to share this information with the Legislature as we do now. The Legislature has available to it the resources of the non-partisan Legislative Analyst, who reports directly to the Legislature. The analyst routinely makes multi-year revenue and expenditure projections, and if requested by the Legislature, is capable of providing a range of potential policy options to close any projected gaps for their consideration. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 561 (Montanez) Prison education. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 561 without my signature. This bill will place several mandates on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and is ultimately unnecessary. To the extent this bill codifies existing policy and practice, it is unnecessary. To the extent the bill mandates very specific provisions it removes management flexibility to respond to the changing needs of our institutions and fiscal limitations. I appreciate and share the authors interest in improving correctional education programs within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which is one of the reasons why I reorganized the Department effective July 1, 2005. This reorganization includes the development of the Division of Education, Vocations, and Offender Programs within Adult Programs and their mission includes many of the same goals articulated in this bill. For these reasons I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 564 (Karnette) Basic instructional materials: review. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 564 without my signature. While I strongly support providing all high school students with high-quality, standards-based instructional materials, the process proposed in this bill is not necessarily the appropriate mechanism to do so. If it is determined that the State should have the added responsibility of reviewing 9 through 12 grade instructional materials, then it would be more reasonable to do so by using the existing process used for K through 8 grade review. The K through 8 review process includes input and re view from the public and final decision making authority vested with the State Board of Education. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 593 (Frommer) State property: California Hope Endowment and California Hope Public Trust. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 593 without my signature. In accordance with the provisions of Proposition 60A as approved by the voters just last year, revenue generated by the sale of surplus property is to be used to pay off the debt accrued from the Economic Recovery Bonds. This bill attempts to redirect those revenues for other program purposes. As worthy an intention as providing additional funding for higher education may be, it is the Administrations objective to prioritize reducing the States debt first, before initiating new programmatic spending. Furthermore, this bill would delegate important decisions regarding the allocation of state resources to a new entity, unaccountable to the people, operating outside of the annual budget process, without an expressed mandate from the people of California. In doing so, it would impair the ability of the Legislature and the Governor to make such resource decisions taking into account all of the states needs, both in higher education, and across the spectrum of important state services. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 605 (Nakanishi) Pupils: suspension and expulsion. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 605 without my signature. While I abhor the conduct of any student who would threaten the reputation of a school teacher or other school employee by making false claims of sexual assault, I have a greater responsibility to protect the well being of California's school children. We must do everything possible to ensure that students who have been the victims of actual or attempted sexual assaults may come forward and report these incidents without fear of retribution. This bill could potentially result in a chilling effect on students willingness to report. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 624 (Montanez) Medi-Cal program: Healthy Families Program: Child Health and Disability Prevention (CHDP) program. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 624 without my signature. I believe that children should be insured but this bill fails to address a critical question: How to pay for it? At a time when California has a $7.5 billion structural deficit, this bill would cost the state almost 200 million dollars once implemented without providing a funding source or offering comprehensive children's health reform. As written, AB 624 grants a child presumptive Medi-Cal eligibility until county eligibility workers and HFP make a final determination of the child's eligibility for the programs. This could effectively result in extending indefinitely the current two-month presumptive eligibility period for the Children's Health Disability and Prevention (CHDP) Gateway program. Not only would this generate an undetermined increase in CHDP Gateway costs due to an anticipated increase in enrollment in temporary Medi-Cal, it would discourage a final eligibility determination for and enrollment in comprehensive health coverage programs. In addition, the bill would place a greater responsibility on the counties to follow up on Medi-Cal eligibility and would result in a substantial increase in workload. Finally, this bill does not allow enough time for the Department of Health Services, the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board and the counties to plan and implement all the aspects of the CHDP Gateway application modification. I have continually stated my interest in providing health coverage to low-income uninsured California children. Consistent with that interest, I have made expanding children's health coverage a top priority in a challenging fiscal time by protecting eligibility for Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families Program (HFP), funding an additional 126,000 children in HFP, and reinstituting community-based certified application assistance to help reach the estimated 428,000 children who are eligible for public programs but not yet enrolled. More broadly, my budget included a $1 billion increase in funding for health care services for over 7 million low-income Californians already eligible for public programs. Providing access to affordable health coverage for California children has been and will continue to be an important priority for me and my Administration. While progress has been made over the past year in expanding coverage, more needs to be done. My Administration is committed to working with the Legislature and stakeholders to find a comprehensive solution to this critical priority for California, but we must do so in a manner that the State of California can afford, is funded, and that effectively targets new investments in proven strategies to provide coverage to California children. For these reasons, I am returning AB 624 without my signature. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 643 (Negrete McLeod) State excluded employees: meet and confer. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 643 without my signature. This bill would seriously impede the ability of the State, as an employer, to effect necessary policy changes. The purpose of the supervisory meet and confer process is to allow supervisory employee organizations to present ideas and to discuss alternative means of achieving the employers objectives. The final determination of policy and decision as to the course of action is explicitly and expressly vested with the employer. By requiring 30 days notice if the State needs to make changes to policy discussed in a previous meet and confer, this bill would erode the states authority and its ability to make needed policy changes on a timely basis. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 648 (Jones) Development projects: disclosure requirements. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 648 without my signature. This bill would require that developers disclose the identity of owners or occupants of a facility upon construction completion. While I am supportive of the authors stated goals to promote appropriate disclosure with respect to land development decisions, this bill is an express attempt to dictate land use and private property rights. Further, this measure would force the disclosure of proprietary business information. In the case of a commercial project, a developers prospective rent roll is closely held information of considerable value to competitors. The bills requirement to name future owners of residential homes is simply ludicrous. Builders are required to conform to, among other requirements, environmental standards, local zoning ordinances and general planning dictates; however, they have the right to lease at-will once the obligations have been met. One can only conclude that the disclosure required by this bill will result in discrimination against builders who otherwise have done nothing wrong. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 656 (Hancock) Pupil attendance: county school attendance review boards. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 656 (Hancock) without my signature. While I support the work of School Attendance Review Boards (SARB) to address the needs of students with serious school attendance and behavior problems, this bill is unnecessary. Nothing in current law precludes a SARB from including in its rules and regulations a provision for the submission of any recommendation of the Board to appropriate school district personnel. For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 693 (Goldberg) Teacher preparation: Commission on Teacher Credentialing: study. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 693 without my signature. Integrating SCANS (U.S. Secretary of Labors Commission for Achieving Necessary Skills) components into teacher preparation programs is a laudable goal for propelling California schools in instructional modes appropriate for the 21st Century and producing students better prepared for success in the workplace. However, colleges and universities currently have the ability to craft their candidate training programs to meet the contemporary needs and demands of K-12 classrooms in California. The SCANS report is readily available on the Internet, and I encourage educators to investigate SCANS and ascertain the appropriate level of relevance these competencies should have in their individual classrooms. Therefore, an additional study is unnecessary. For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 708 (Karnette) California State University: whistleblower protection. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 708 without my signature. This bill is substantively similar to one I vetoed last year. It is unnecessary because it is redundant with current procedures already implemented by the California State University (CSU). CSU employees are already protected from retaliation for disclosing improper activities under the California Whistleblower Protection Act. Furthermore, in 2002 the CSU Chancellor issued Executive Order 822, establishing procedures for responding to complaints filed by CSU employees or applicants. The complaint review process includes an investigation that may be conducted by an independent entity and an opportunity for the complainant to present evidence and witnesses in support of the complaint. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 723 (Chu) Public school curriculum: tolerance instruction. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 723 without my signature. No one believes more strongly than I in the importance of teaching our children tolerance for all persons, irrespective of race, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religious creed, disability, or sexual orientation. However, this bill is largely duplicative of current efforts to provide more avenues to teach about tolerance and human rights. For example, current law already establishes a Center for the Excellence on the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights, and Tolerance to provide teachers the training and resources to effectively teach about these subjects. In addition, the State Board of Education has adopted a Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide that is available to all schools. Finally, with respect to tolerance of a more immediate nature, the California Department of Education has posted on its website model policies on the prevention of bullying and hate-motivated behavior. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill at this time. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 726 (Goldberg) Adult instruction. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 726 without my signature. It is unclear why an additional evaluation of the Community-Based English Tutoring (CBET) program is necessary. AB 56 (Mazzoni), Chapter 1009, Statutes of 1999, required an evaluation of the effects of Proposition 227. This evaluation conducted by the American Institutes of Research and WestEd also includes an evaluation on the CBET program. The final report on the Effects of the Implementation of Proposition 227 on the Education of English learners will be submitted to the California Department of Education by October 1, 2005. After the departments review, it will be provided to the Governor and Legislature. This bill is redundant of those current efforts, and therefore it is unnecessary. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill at this time. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 738 (Nation) Elections. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning AB 738 without my signature. This bill requires an individual who is paid to collect signatures on any state or local initiative, referendum or petition to wear a badge stating Paid Signature Gatherer. I agree with Governor Davis and Governor Wilson, who returned similar measures without their signature, that this bill is unnecessary. Under existing law, petitions must contain the following notice in 12 point type: NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC - THIS PETITION IS BEING CIRCULATED BY A PAID SIGNATURE GATHERER OR A VOLUNTEER. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASK. I see no compelling reason to change existing law. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 739 (Nation) Political expenditure disclosure. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 739 without my signature. I support requiring disclosure of payments made for issue advocacy communications made close to an election at the local level. Unfortunately, this bill sets a much lower threshold for local candidates than state candidates. This arbitrary, one-size-fits-all disclosure threshold may or may not be appropriate in some local jurisdictions. For example the Mayor of one of California top cities represents more constituents than a member State Assembly. An issue advocacy campaigns i n the Mayors race would be required to report $10,000 of issue advocacy expenditures, but could spend up to $50,000 before reporting in the Assembly race. I encourage local governments to consider establishing campaign disclosure rules in this area. I will work with the Legislature to establish reporting rules for issue advocacy communications that ensure adequate disclosure in both state and local elections. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 772 (Chan) California Healthy Kids Insurance Program. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 772 without my signature. I believe that children should be insured but this bill fails to address a critical question: How to pay for it? This bill would cost the state almost a half billion dollars a year without providing a funding source at a time when California has a $7.5 billion structural deficit. I have continually stated my interest in providing health coverage to low-income uninsured California children. Consistent with that interest, I have made expanding children's health coverage a top priority in a challenging fiscal time by protecting eligibility for Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families Program (HFP), funding an additional 126,000 children in HFP, and reinstituting community-based certified application assistance to help reach the estimated 428,000 children who are eligible for public programs but not yet enrolled. More broadly, my budget included a $1 billion increase in funding for health care services for over 7 million low-income Californians already eligible for public programs. While I share the goal of insuring children in California, I have concerns with certain aspects of the roadmap provided in this legislation and for that reason I am unable to sign AB 772. The measure relies solely on the expansion of state programs as the means to increase health coverage for uninsured children. The measure includes strategies that need to be further analyzed for their relative effect on enrollment, cost effectiveness, and program integrity, and evaluated to ensure that they won't divert resources to administrative processes and investments for already enrolled children. As an example, AB 772 would eliminate documentation and verification requirements for purposes of determining eligibility, despite evidence in other states regarding error rates associated with this approach, the potential for federal disallowances and susceptibility to fraud. Additionally, AB 772 fails to include a funding source for a program that once fully implemented is expected to cost in excess of $820 million dollars ($444 million General Fund) annually. Providing access to affordable health coverage for California children has been and will continue to be an important priority for me and my Administration. While progress has been made over the past year in expanding coverage, more needs to be done. My Administration is committed to working with the Legislature and stakeholders to find a solution to this critical priority for California that can be enacted next year, but we must do so in a manner that the State of California can afford, is funded, and that effectively targets new investments in proven strategies to provide coverage to California children. For these reasons, I am returning AB 772 without my signature. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 826 (Nava) California Farm to School Child Nutrition Improvement Program. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 826 without my signature. This bill is unnecessary because it proposes to create a new statewide program through the State Department of Education that duplicates efforts that are already taking place in California. For example, the Department of Health Services already implements California 5 a Day For Better Health Campaign and the California Nutrition Network for Health Active Families to promote increased consumption of fruits and vegetables. Additionally, the Department of Food and Agriculture oversees the Buy California Initiative, which promotes California agriculture. Instead of creating another duplicative program with no identifiable funding source, I would rather see any additional resources that might be available go directly toward providing fresh fruits and vegetables to schools. This is why I recently signed into law SB 281 which provides healthy alternatives through existing meal programs and makes purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables a priority. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 866 (Yee) Code of Fair Campaign Practices. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 866 without my signature. I strongly support clean and fair campaigns. The Code of Fair Campaign Practices is unenforceable other than through the exercise of the vote at the ballot box. Candidates and campaigns are free to make their case to the voters about whether their campaign follows or their opponent ignores basic principles of decency, honesty, and fair play. I trust the people to be the best judge of conduct of a campaign when they exercise their franchise to vote. I am confident that they will reject candidates that use appeals to negative prejudices against any group of people. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 880 (Cohn) Dependent children. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 880 without my signature. Counties have made significant progress in employing effective methods and practices for identifying and locating relatives for the purpose of finding appropriate homes for children in foster care. Current law requires counties to make considerable effort to identify and locate family members when making foster care placements. Because California is a national leader in identifying relatives of children in foster care this bill is unnecessary. In California, child welfare services are delivered by counties. Some counties already use innovative computer technology to locate family members and the remaining counties have the option to enact similar measures without the need for legislative intervention. Additionally, the bill does not provide resources to develop the cost benefit analysis of using locator technology. For these reasons, I cannot support this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 917 (Wyland) The Career Technical Education Vision Council. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 917 without my signature. While I support the authors well placed intentions to strengthen career technical education in our public schools in order to provide meaningful career opportunities for all students, the creation of a Career Technical Education Vision Council (council) would duplicate activities performed by other entities. In order to invigorate career technical education in California, I prefer to take immediate steps to expand and improve career technical education curriculum in our public schools, align curriculum for seamless advanced work in our community colleges, and improve the quality and availability of information for students and parents to make informed choices for their future. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 927 (Mullin) State preschool programs. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 927 without my signature. I am fully supportive of enabling child care providers to offer programs that most effectively and efficiently serve California's children and families. In fact, may child care providers currently operate full-day programs by combining various child care funding received. This bill would simply codify current practices already outlined in contractual agreements through the California Department of Education. Therefore, I do not believe it is necessary. For this reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 938 (Umberg) Campaign expenditure disclosures. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 938 without my signature. I support requiring a general purpose committee that makes contributions to other committees that support or oppose the qualification of a ballot measure, to disclose those contributions within 10 business days. In fact, my general purpose committee that helped qualify Propositions 74, 76 and 77 voluntarily complied with the online reporting rules found in Government Code section 85309. This bill sets a higher threshold, $10,000 rather than $5,000, for disclosure than in existing law. This adds further confusion to existing reporting laws. I will work with the Legislature upon its return in January to close this loophole, streamline reporting, and get more on-line disclosure for campaign contributions. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 952 (Coto) Surplus school property: use of proceeds: East Side Union High School District, Oak Grove Elementary School District, and San Jose Unified School District. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 952 without my signature. This measure would allow the East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD), the Oak Grove Elementary School District, and the San Jose Unified School District, under specified conditions, to deposit proceeds from the sale of surplus real property into the general fund of the school district and to use the proceeds for any one-time general fund purpose. I am concerned that enacting legislation on this matter may interfere with pending litigation specifically involving ESUHSD, Department of Education, Office of Public School Construction and East Side Teachers Association. For this reason, I cannot sign this measure. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1057 (De La Torre) Adult instruction. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1057 without my signature. This bill would require that the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) be available to regularly enrolled adult education students at times and locations that are convenient for them. This open ended definition would likely result in programmatic and logistical difficulties for school districts associated with administering and proctoring the exam at numerous times and locations during the day, evening, and weekends. Testing accommodations have traditionally be en reserved for students with disabilities. This bill would set an undesirable precedent of making changes to state tests simply for the convenience of students. Furthermore, this bill would create significant test security concerns, resulting from testing outside of the classroom and at potentially non-traditional school hours. Moreover, there will likely be a need to develop a potentially large number of new test forms and test questions to ensure that the integrity of the exam is not compromised. Given the high-stakes nature of the CAHSEE, it is important that the current reasonable and secure opportunities for students to adequately demonstrate their knowledge and ability be maintained. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1096 (Umberg) Absentee ballots. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1096 without my signature. In any bill designed to increase voter participation, we have to balance that goal against the potential increase in voter fraud. This bill eliminates the requirement that an absentee voter must be ill or disabled to have someone return his or her ballot to the polling place. If the Legislature desires to lower certain standards in favor of convenience, they must include other measures that put additional safeguards in place to protect against voter fraud and ensure that those individuals returning ballots are eligible and truly authorized to do so. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1097 (Mullin) School facilities: lease-leaseback contracts. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1097 without my signature. I am generally supportive of using a competitive process for public works projects, however, this bill imposes restrictions on lease-leaseback contracts that could limit competition, inadvertently limit flexibility for schools, and drive higher administrative costs, thereby potentially increasing the overall cost of building school facilities. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1107 (Berg) Small school district transportation.
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To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1107 without my signature. I share the authors goal of reducing particulate emissions and approved the specific 2005-06 Budget Act appropriation of $12.5 million for the purpose of retrofitting diesel school buses, in order to reduce particulate emissions. However, this bill alters a separate grant program whose priority is to address school bus safety. The current Small School District Transportation grant program has an annual base funding level of $4.9 million. These funds should continue to be maintained specifically for addressing the important issue of student and driver safety. Protecting the safety of students as they travel to and from school should not be compromised. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1110 (Parra) School Transportation Block Grant. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1110 without my signature. The Budget Act of 2005 includes $24.3 million in growth and COLA for home-to-school transportation. While I support the funding of growth and COLA for education programs when resources are available, requiring automatic spending increases in this program every year would restrict an Administration's and the Legislatures fiscal flexibility and would create new General Fund cost pressures, constraining the state's ability to prioritize school funding. As I stated in my veto message to the authors similar bill last year, it would be irresponsible governance to restrict a future Administration and Legislatures fiscal flexibility by requiring automatic spending increases on this program every year. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1241 (Matthews) Student Aid Commission: reports from high schools. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1241 without my signature. Specific legislative authority is not necessary for the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) to convene a working group to develop strategies to facilitate the submission of student grade point average verification to CSAC. In fact, CSAC has already convened a working group to study the barriers to the grade point average submission process. Therefore, this bill is unnecessary. For this reason, I am unable to sign this measure. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1297 (Evans) Buildings: rehabilitation. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1297 without my signature. This bill mandates unnecessary restrictions on school districts ability to maintain their heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. By restricting the pool of employees eligible to work on school HVAC systems, this bill will lead to reduced competition and higher costs for school districts. Mandating districts only use certain contractors or similar school district employees would simply create a reimbursable state mandate with costs in the millions of dollars annually. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1531 (Bass) High school exit examination. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1531 without my signature. This bill would undermine the existing California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE), weaken the ability of the state to establish minimum standards for high school diplomas, and diminish ongoing efforts to ensure that these students are receiving the assistance they deserve to successfully complete the exit exam. Under current law, students already have up to six different opportunities to pass the exit exam. Allowing school districts to offer alternative assessments at this time sends the wrong message to students, parents, teachers, and administrators that we do not expect students to achieve at the highest levels. I believe that every student can learn, and every student can graduate high school with the skills they need to go to college or enter the workforce. We have a responsibility to each of our students to believe in them, and not to have low expectations. This is why the 2005 Budget Act includes $70 million for additional support services and instruction for students most at risk of not passing the CAHSEE. I believe that targeted state resources should continue to be focused on helping students prepare for the exam, rather than developing alternative assessments. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1565 (Pavley) Child day care facilities: star quality rating system: study. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1565 without my signature. I completely respect the intentions of the authors of this bill in addressing the need for quality child care programs in California and share their interest in improving the quality of care in the State. However, this bill may not directly address some of the shortcomings in the system. The Legislature has already requested an audit of the Child Care Licensing Program of the California Department of Social Services that will examine the programs oversight of providers to ensure that child care programs are maintaining a safe environment for kids. The results of that audit may provide more critical areas of concern related to health and safety that should be resolved prior to implementing a study and development of a rating system. We all share the same goal, and I look forward to working with Assemblymembers Pavley and Benoit in the coming legislative year to address the issue of child care quality. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1593 (Coto) Child nutrition.
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To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1593 without my signature as it would restrict California's ability to address vendor overcharging, at the expense of maximizing the number of women and children served. The federally funded Woman, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC) provides critical food supplies and nutrition services to 1.3 million low-income pregnant women, mothers and their young children. WIC funding comes from a capped federal grant, therefore, any dollar lost due to fraudulent activities is a dollar not spent to buy food for low-income mothers and their children. Assembly Bill 1593 limits the Department of Health Service's ability to impose penalties or sanctions when a vendor overcharges the program, purchases WIC coupons with cash or is disqualified from the Food Stamps Program. In accordance with federal law, the WIC Program already provides vendors written notification of initial violations and bases program sanctions on a pattern of practice, not on a single violation, unless the violation is very serious. Assembly Bill 1593 would make California law inconsistent with federal law and compromise enforcement of regulations designed to maximize the number of low-income mothers and children served with available program funds. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1625 (Klehs) State government: reports: declarations. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1625 without my signature. I absolutely believe that the Legislature, indeed all elected officials, must base their decisions on information that is true, accurate, and complete. This bill, requiring legislative reports be submitted under penalty of perjury, only applies to individuals appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, and to the executive officer of the Franchise Tax Board and the executive director of the Board of Equalization. The law already protects against falsified reports to the Legislature. Department heads must take oaths of office, and various Government and Penal Code provisions set forth duties, obligations, and penalties for the accurate and truthful execution of the operation of state government. Further, the Legislature may already require individuals appearing before it to testify under oath, and false testimony is a felony. I will consider similar legislation that applies to all written materials used in the course of legislative deliberations that applies to any official of the State, elected or appointed by the Governor, the Legislature or any other constitutional officer. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1690 (Laird) Municipal services: University of California: Legislative Analyst. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1690 without my signature. Requesting the Legislative Analysts Office (LAO) to conduct a review and issue a report does not require legislation. Any member of the Legislature may request the LAO to conduct a study. This bill was amended five times, was heard in five different committees, and debated and voted on by members in both the Assembly and Senate. After thousands of state taxpayer dollars were spent during that process, the ultimate end product resulted in a bill that is not even necessary, since its objective can be accomplished simply by sending a one page letter to the LAO requesting the information. For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
AB 1747 (Wolk) Joint exercise of powers. |
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1747 without my signature. The Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians is a leader among California's sovereign tribes. Their willingness to partner with the state and local governments to solve problems, protect the environment and work cooperatively with Yolo County and various public entities in the area is commendable. They are a valued and respected Tribe and member of the Yolo County community. I am encouraged by their continued willingness to work with state and local governments on so many import ant issues. But allowing a tribal government that is not subject to all of the federal, state and local laws that protect the public, to participate in the exercise of public power, particularly off reservation lands, diminishes public accountability and control. This bill also presents significant policy questions regarding the proper role of a tribal sovereign when their partnership with a local government can lead to the taking of property for public purposes through eminent domain. The simple fact is that the sovereign tribes can work cooperatively with their local governments through agreements and memorandums of understanding as contemplated in the tribal-state compacts my administration has executed. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 23 (Migden) Healthy Families Program and Medi-Cal. |
To the Members of the California State Senate:: I am returning Senate Bill 23 without my signature. Senate Bill 23 would require the Employment Development Department (EDD) to forward a notice about eligibility and enrollment for Healthy Families and Medi-Cal programs to all employers for purposes of distributing the information to all employees. I agree with the overall objective of this bill to increase enrollment of eligible children in the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs. In fact, the budget I signed funds a more effective and targeted enrollment effort. At my direction, the Healthy Families certified application assistance program that has proven to be an effective means to successfully enroll eligible children in the Healthy Families and Medi-Cal programs has been reinstated. I am concerned that the approach in SB 23 would be inefficient and ineffective. SB 23 requires the widespread distribution of a mandated notice to all employers, regardless of whether the employees and their families already receive health coverage or qualify for these public programs. This approach is not strategically designed to focus on the harder-to-reach and underenrolled populations. This bill would require the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) to develop a process by which family contributions to the Healthy Families Program may be deducted from a financial account and a process for deduction from an applicants pay. These regulations are unnecessary. MRMIB has had an electronic fund transfer mechanism in place for more than a year. In addition, MRMIB anticipates implementation of payroll deduction system in 2006. Finally, this legislation does not include resources to fund the outreach, marketing, and additional reporting activities, activities that cannot be absorbed by affected departments in light of current state budgetary constraints. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 72 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) Instructional materials: English language learners. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 72 without my signature. While I support all efforts to ensure that English Learners attain English proficiency as rapidly as possible, this bill would appropriate $20 million for supplemental instructional materials that is in addition to the $30 million appropriation that was authorized a year ago. Despite being appropriated more than a year ago in the 2004-05 Budget Act, the funds are only now being apportioned to school districts this month, with the final apportionment to arrive in the spring of next year. Clearly, the additional $20 million appropriated in this bill is premature. It would be more prudent to determine whether the materials school districts eventually purchase are, in fact, effective in helping students gain English language proficiency before authorizing an additional $20 million. For this reason, I cannot support the bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 161 (Soto) California Youth Access to Information Act.
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To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 161 without my signature. While I am supportive of providing students with information that affects their rights, this bill is unnecessary. Under current law, the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) can and should be posting information on the Department of Education website to assist students in understanding their rights and helping them with important issues. Furthermore, this bill is not inclusive enough of all the rights and issues important to our students welfare, such as a students right to request confidentiality when reporting whether he or she has been abused or sexually assaulted. I encourage the Legislature and any other interested parties to work with Superintendent O’Connell to ensure that he provides as much information to students and parents to maintain the health and welfare of children in schools. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 166 (Soto) Charter schools: charter renewal. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 166 (Soto) without my signature. I am a strong supporter of charter schools and an advocate for fiscal and academic accountability. However, this bill is unnecessary since current law already contains numerous safeguards to ensure that charter schools are held accountable, both fiscally and for their students academic performance. Furthermore, charter school authorizers already have the ability to revoke a charter at any time during the existing five-year renewal period. By forcing them to undergo a more frequent, ti me-consuming renewal process, this bill would create an unnecessary burden on charter schools, while not achieving any greater policy goal. For these reasons, I am unable to support this measure. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 314 (Romero) Job training. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 314 without my signature. I support additional workforce training funds for seasonal workers. That is why removing barriers for these populations is one of my priorities for the discretionary portion of California's Workforce Investment Act dollars. This bill authorizes the Employment Training Panel (ETP) to fund training for workers in the states major seasonal industries. Unfortunately, this bill lowers the ETP criteria for training eligibility in a manner that is not consistent with the goal of the program to fund training programs that meet the needs of employers for skilled and productive workers and the need of workers for good paying, long-term jobs. I encourage the sponsors of this measure and others representing seasonal workers to continue to pursue Workforce Investment Act funds, including the 85-percent of those funds awarded by California's local Workforce Investment Boards. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 327 (Lowenthal) Public contracts: school districts. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 327 without my signature. This bill imposes restrictions on school districts use of so called piggyback contracts for relocatable classrooms, thereby limiting the ability of school districts to provide cost and time-efficient solutions to meet their facilities needs. By prohibiting school districts from using piggyback contracts for this purpose, this bill would expose more school projects to construction delays and the unpredictable bidding environment that has resulted in numerous cost overruns. By allowing piggyback contracting, a district can take advantage of lower per-building costs realized through economy of scale. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 338 (Maldonado) School curricula: Internet safety. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 338 without my signature. While I believe that Internet safety is important, this bill does virtually nothing to ensure districts do more to protect students from accessing inappropriate websites. The Superintendent of Public Instruction has the authority and should already be taking all of the necessary steps to protect children in schools even without this bill. Therefore, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 385 (Ducheny) Pupil assessment. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 385 without my signature. As an immigrant whose second language is English, I know the importance of mastering English as quickly and as comprehensively as possible, in order to be successful in the United States. This bill runs counter to that goal by eliminating testing in English for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students until they have been in school in the United States for three consecutive years. By requiring testing of students in English only after three years, this bill would further weaken incentives for LEP students and their schools to work towards English proficiency. My Administration shall continue to work on behalf of English learners so that school districts, principals, teachers, parents, and all students can concentrate on the goal of improving student achievement. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 404 (Migden) Teachers: California Preliminary (CAP) credential. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 404 without my signature. I am supportive of providing varied pathways, both traditional and expedited, which bring qualified and motivated teachers into the classroom. However, as drafted, this bill which would reestablish the California Preliminary (CAP) credential and impose a substantially more complicated process for teaching candidates to obtain a credential than any of the existing alternative credentialing programs. In fact, according to a 2003 Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) report, no district requested the issuance of a CAP credential because other alternatives became available. Teacher candidates already have several alternative credential pathways: the district and university intern programs, the SB 57 Early Completion option, Cal State Teach, and the Eminence Credential. I would be open to working with Senator Migden to refine this measure to ensure a more efficient and streamlined alternative certification process for highly qualified subject matter experts to teach in our schools. Until that time, I am unable to sign this measure. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 414 (Alquist) Instructional programs: Mathematics and Reading Professional Development Program. |
To the Members of the California State Senate:: I am reluctantly returning Senate Bill 414 without my signature. I strongly support the continuation of the Mathematics and Reading Professional Development Program. This program provides training to teachers that is aligned to California's rigorous academic standards and has been a major component of the states education reforms. Unfortunately, this bill contains two significant drafting flaws. First, it would allow school districts to claim funding for the same hours of staff development under both this program and the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program. Second, it reinstates the Instructional Time and Staff Development Reform (staff development buy-back days) program, which had previously been eliminated and its funding consolidated into a staff development block grant, without backing this funding out o f the block grant. Both of these would result in districts being double-funded for the same activity. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill in its current form. However, I request that the Legislature work with my Administration to eliminate these problems and introduce and pass urgency legislation extending this programs sunset date beyond its current date of June 30, 2006. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 469 (Bowen) Petitions: initiative, referendum, recall. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 469 without my signature. When special interests dominate Sacramento, the only recourse the people of California have is the initiative, the referendum and the recall. As I have previously said, at the very heart of the initiative process is the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the core value of political speech. Any burden placed on either of these fundamental rights of Californians must be examined through a lens that favors the right of the people to address grievances with the government through initiatives, referendums, and recalls. This bill requires different notices on petitions to reflect whether it is being circulated by a paid or volunteer circulator. The paid or volunteer status of a circulator has no bearing on the merits of the petition being presented to voters. Furthermore, under existing law, petitions must contain the following notice in 12 point type: NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC - THIS PETITION IS BEING CIRCULATED BY A PAID SIGNATURE GATHERER OR A VOLUNTEER. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASK. This bill attacks the initiative process and makes it more difficult for the people of California to gather signatures and qualify measures for the ballot. While difficulty of the process may be a good thing for big-money special interests and for political consultants who stand to gain financially, it is not for everyday Californians with an idea for reform. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 485 (Migden) Local government finance. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 485 without my signature. This bill would shift to the state the fiscal responsibility of funding special education out-of-home care costs currently estimated at $7.7 million - from county excess Educational Revenue Augmentation Funds (ERAF), despite the significant amounts of local revenue accumulated by certain county treasuries. Special education out-of-home care costs for county residents have historically been funded with ERAF. Further, it is my understanding that the affected counties have over $100 mill ion in obligated ERAF available at this time. We can revisit this issue in the context of next years budget. I encourage the interested parties to sit down with the Department of Finance to resolve this issue in a manner equitable to both the state and the county. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 567 (Torlakson) Pupil nutrition: school wellness policy. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 567 without my signature. While I am generally supportive of school wellness policies, this bill, sponsored by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, makes no substantive contribution to the increased health of California's students. It is unnecessary since it simply duplicates current federal law, with which schools area already required to comply. Federal law already requires schools participating in federal meal programs to establish wellness policies, and California schools have the authority to implement more stringent policies if they so choose. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 577 (Figueroa) State government operations: accountability. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 577 without my signature. I support the worthy goal to improve the performance of State government agencies, while reducing the cost of government. The California Performance Review made over 1,200 recommendations in their report, and this bill takes a few of those recommendations related to fiscal practices in the state. Unfortunately, the overall impact of these particular recommendations, taken in isolation, will not result in any savings or reduced costs, but will increase mandated workload on departments without sufficient resources or offsetting savings. In particular, requiring all State agencies to use the CalATERS automated travel system will result in higher administrative costs for some departments, including the State Controller, who oversees the system. The bill places new reporting and coordinating functions on the California Service Corps, which represent a substantial workload increase that will take away from their core mission. Finally, it requires the Department of Finance and the State Controllers Office to make recommendations for developing a fiscal management system. A similar proposal was already rejected by the Legislature in last years budget process. I continue to encourage all the agencies and departments to use the CPR recommendations as guideposts in ongoing efforts to improve accountability throughout state government. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 586 (Romero) High school exit examination: pupils with disabilities.
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To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 586 without my signature. This bill alters the settlement agreement in the case of Chapman, et al. v. the California Department of Education, et al. This bill was intended to codify provisions of the settlement agreement, which was agreed to after extensive negotiations among the parties involved, would have exempted pupils with disabilities who meet specified criteria from the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) graduation requirement for one year. This bill alters significant terms of the agreement, by extending this exemption to two years, failing to require students to avail themselves of remediation, and shifting the focus for granting the exemption from the State Board of Education to local school districts, this bill is inconsistent with the terms of the settlement agreement. Enacting this bill sends the wrong message to the over 650,000 special education students in our state, the majority of which have the ability to pass the CAHSEE. The small minority of special education students that may need the state to review how the exam impacts them, in the short run, deserve quick action, and not a two year delay. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 657 (Escutia) Instructional materials. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 657 without my signature. I vetoed a similar bill last year, SB 1380 (Escutia) because it was inconsistent with the State Board of Educations principles to ensure that classroom curriculum is rigorous, standards-aligned and research-based. The State of California has established nationally-acclaimed academic standards and required the adoption of instructional materials to reflect those standards. I continue to be concerned that allowing for the circumvention of the current adoption process will compromise the assurance that parents, students, and educators deserve, that the highest level of standards-aligned instructional materials are provided to schools. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 672 (Cox) Community colleges: inmate education programs: computation of apportionments. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 672 without my signature. This bill would inappropriately authorize community college districts to receive reimbursement at the full-credit reimbursement rate rather than the lower non-credit rate, for hours generated teaching credit classes at state prisons. The higher rate results in an excessive reimbursement given that when providing instruction in a correctional setting, community colleges do not incur facility or other student services costs. For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 684 (Alquist) Social sciences curriculum. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 684 without my signature. While I respect the authors intent to recognize the role of effected Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander populations in the many historical events leading up to and during World War II, this bill is unnecessary. Current law already allows school districts to incorporate the roles of effected Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander populations into their instruction on World War II. Furthermore, the extensive review process culminating in the State Board of Educations adoption of content standards, curriculum frameworks, and instructional materials ensures that this information is accurate. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 688 (Speier) The Skin Cancer Prevention Act for California Schools. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 688 without my signature. While I support efforts to promote skin cancer prevention, this bill is unnecessary and duplicative of numerous efforts currently in place. Nothing prohibits schools from integrating sun-safety instruction into lesson plans. In fact, the current Health Curriculum Framework already includes a topic of environmental health, intended to make students aware of how environmental issues affect their personal health. The framework includes expectations for students to demonstrate ways in which to enhance and maintain their health and well-being, including specific examples of using protective equipment or practices, such as using sunscreen or a hat in bright sunlight. Currently, a specific program, administered through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is aimed at teaching children how to be protected from overexposure to the sun through the use of classroom based, school based, and community based materials. Moreover, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, the National Association of School Boards, and the Department of Health Services have all published guidelines or instructional materials regarding sun safety and skin cancer prevention for schools. Much of this material is easily accessible from the Internet. The Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) can already access this information and should be informing schools of its availability, even without this bill. At this point, the SPI has not requested any of this information from my Health and Human Services Agency Secretary, to be distributed to school districts. However, to assist in the effort to promote skin cancer prevention, I am directing the Department of Health Services to provide a list of the myriad of skin cancer prevention educational resources to the SPI, for distribution to school districts and county offices of education. For the reasons stated above, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 780 (Ortiz) University of California: medical schools: admissions criteria. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 780 without my signature. While I understand the authors intention is to address the need for a qualified physician workforce in underserved communities, this bill is unnecessary to meet that objective. The University of California (UC) system already considers an applicants background and personal experiences during the application process. The criteria outlined in the bill were drawn largely from existing UC medical school admissions policies and description of best practices in medical school admissions, written by the University of California experts at the invitations of a national medical organization. It is unclear how codifying the admissions criteria will significantly improve the admissions process, as the University of California is currently in compliance with the overall intent of the bill: increasing the number of physicians likely to serve in underrepresented communities. Furthermore, the 2005 Budget appropriates $300,000 specifically to support additional slots in the Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community. The primary purpose of the program is to train physicians to serve in underserved communities. Full implementation is expected by 2008, when the additional enrollment will total approximately 300 new students - the equivalent of a new medical school devoted to serving the needs of currently underserved communities. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 874 (Romero) Public contracts.
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To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 874 without my signature. The overarching objective of improving the jury system is one that we should all share and work together to identify tangible direct solutions. While I am generally supportive of the policy goal of allowing more prospective jurors the opportunity to participate in their civic responsibility, this proposal is not the best mechanism to achieve that goal. Prohibiting state agencies from contracting with entities that do not provide up to five days of regular pay for actual jury service would limit the number companies that could do business with the State of California. The Department of General Services is charged with obtaining the best value for the taxpayer in contracting for goods and services. This bill would impose an additional restriction on those contractors in order to do business with the State, restrict competition, and ultimately result in higher prices for goods and services. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 930 (Ducheny) Community colleges: Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 930 without my signature. This bill is unnecessary and reduces gubernatorial discretion to appoint the appropriate individuals to the California Community College Board of Governors. The Office of the Governor is currently able to consult with various resources, including statewide associations, when determining the most appropriate person to fill board appointments. Moreover, this bill would potentially eliminate the consideration of highly qualified persons because they are not associated with or recognized by the statewide organization representing community college governing boards. For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 940 (Torlakson) Public works. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 940 (Torlakson) without my signature. Changes in law made prior to my Administration greatly expanded the type and number of projects that are considered to be public works and thus covered by prevailing wage requirements. Many low-income housing and other residential projects are now subject to prevailing wage requirements, adding additional costs to the groups funding those projects. Unfortunately, the Department of Industrial has less than two-thirds of the information it needs for residential rate determinations. Absent the collective bargaining agreements necessary to establish those missing rates, or some other mechanism by which the department can establish residential rates, a number of residential public works projects are being forced to pay higher commercial rates. This bill does nothing to remedy that deficiency. Instead, this bill imposes a costly mandate on the department to post a patchwork of available residential rates without addressing the underlying problem. The problem is not the failure to publish existing residential rates, but the lack of residential rates for all relevant crafts. I encourage the Legislature to look at this issue more closely next year and send me legislation that truly addresses the problem. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 970 (Perata) Charter schools: funding. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 970 without my signature. Under current law, a district loses the average daily attendance funding for students attending charter schools, but then does not recover that funding, in the prior year, if the students return to a non-charter school in that district. This bill was intended to address declining enrollment funding adjustment for students that transfer between charter and non-charter schools within a district. However, I am concerned that this bill is drafted in a way that may inadvertently create double funding issues. I am a strong supporter of charter schools and look forward to working with the author to address this important issue. Therefore, I am unable to sign the bill at this time. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 1004 (Margett) Suspended pupils: missed assignments and tests. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 1004 without my signature. It is common sense for a school to require suspended pupils to complete homework that is assigned to them while under suspension, with or without adopting a specific policy. Since nothing under current law prevents school districts from adopting a policy requiring suspended pupils to complete the work that is assigned to them, this bill is unnecessary. For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 1006 (Soto) Schools: educational technology access and instructional integration. |
To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 1006 without my signature. While I support access to technology in schools, this bill is unnecessary since the existing California School Technology Survey (Survey) already collects data on educational technology access. The current Survey could be modified to collect additional data, if necessary, without resulting in increased costs to both schools and the state. Finally, it appears inconsistent for the Legislature to approve this bill to mandate the collection of technology data, while denying funding for the existing K-12 High Speed Network during the 2005 budget process. Instead of creating another unfunded state mandate, as this bill would do, the Legislature should be working to continue funding for the K-12 High Speed Network so that schools would not lose access to the technology currently available to them. Therefore, I am unable to sign this bill. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
SB 1050 (Bowen) Elections: write-in candidates.
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To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 1050 without my signature. One of the sacred tenets of our democracy is that every vote needs to be counted. The question this bill attempts to address is whether county elections officials should count a vote for a write-in candidate when the voter does not mark the voting space next to the write-in candidates name. It does so by requiring that if the number of votes a qualified write-in candidate receives plus the number of undervotes (where no vote is recorded in a particular race) is equal to or greater than the number of votes garnered by the winner (in a single election) or the minimum number of votes needed to be elected (in a multi-winner election), then the write-in candidate can request that the undervotes be tallied at county expense. At that time, the clerk would discern the voters intent. This process will expand the number of manual hand recounts, which will lead to an unnecessary delay in completing the canvass and certifying election results. It will require county elections officials to review every mark on ballots even in situations where it is virtually impossible for the candidate challenging the vote to prevail. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger |
2005 Vetoed K-12 Education Legislation
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