Governor Schwarzenegger Has Over 550 Bills to Sign or Veto in One Week

The Governor's office then logs in all the bills that they have received and begins receiving letters and other communications from authors of the bills and others interested in seeing them signed or vetoed. While some worry that with all his travel out of the state in the last month--some of it abroad--that the Governor may not pay sufficient attention to this legislation, in point of fact, much of the processing and work on it is done by his staff. Probably many decisions have already been made--and will be rolled out in batches--some with signing ceremonies, others unceremoniously dumped--usually by vetoes on Friday afternoon, the dead spot for news. If the Governor wants to highlight vetoes, this also can be done.

The Governor's absence from the state has given those opposed or supporting legislation additional time to lobby for and against these bills. One indicator of the hot items might be those that receive editorials and commentary in the press. But, as is customary, the Governor has said little about bills he has not yet acted on, and so on many, it is a little like waiting for the Delphic Oracle to speak.

The Governor doesn't have a desk big enough for all the bills. With past Governors, there are stories of bills being misplaced in stacks in the warren of the Governor's offices in the Capitol. Some have become law without the Governor's signature--as they do in California if the Governor fails to act. When Ronald Reagan was Governor, a bill creating a new right for injured workers as part of the workers' compensation system--vocational rehabilitation--that he wanted to veto, became law because it was in the wrong stack.

As we approach Sunday's deadline, it is clear that this is going to be a busy week. And it's not just bill signing. Even though Monday is a state holiday and all state agencies are closed for Columbus Day, the California State Senate will hold an unusual committee hearing in the special session on water. Late last week, a number of Senate staffers received a memo telling them that even though it is a holiday, they should report to work and advising them that they will be given another day off as a compensatory holiday.

It's also getting close to the real deadline for getting ballot initiatives placed before the voters by the California legislature, so putting all this together with the whispers in the Capitol, there may be a water bill passed by the Senate to the Assembly, which will have hearings on water later in the week. But this may not even come to pass, and even if it does, the Assembly appears fairly divided on the water issue, and it takes a two-thirds vote of both houses to place a bond on the ballot, a key component of what is being proposed.

Deadlines promote frenzied activity, and this week should be no exception.