At the end of his first
"post-partisan" year, Arnold Schwarzenegger stuck to a lot of his old
guns as far as campaign donors go. The governor signed several pieces
of donor-friendly legislation (see yesterday’s post), and his vetoes tracked donors’ interests as well.
Preservation of his business bias was at the top of Arnold’s list: he
vetoed 12 of 12 bills on the California Chamber of Commerce’s hit list.
As the Chamber boasts, the governor has vetoed more than 90% of their
target bills since taking office.
Vetoes included three bills (AB 35, AB 1058 and AB 888) to strengthen
environmentally friendly building standards in California. The bills
were vehemently opposed by the Building Industry Association, a
$282,900 donor to the governor.
Arnold also nixed: AB 1673, a consumer protection bill to require
stores to honor rebates at the cash register when they advertise lower
prices (opposed by the California Retailers Association, a $290,000
donor to the gov); SB 120, a disclosure bill to require some
restaurants to provide nutritional information about their menus to
guests (opposed by the California Restaurant Association, a $262,109
donor); and SB 180, to allow farmworkers to unionize by card check, a
move unions argue is necessary to stop intimidation by employers under
the current system (opposed by $260,600 donor, the California Farm
Bureau Federation).
