AC TRANSIT DISTRICT GM Memo No. 07-225 Board of Directors ...

3
Lynn M. Suter
and Associates
Government Relations
GM 07-225
October 15, 2007
TO:
Greg Harper, President, and
Members of the AC Transit Board of Directors
Mary King, Acting DGM
FR:
RE:
Lynn M. Suter & Associates
Sign/Veto Update
Legislation
October 14 th was the deadline for the Governor to take action on all bills sent to his office
at the end of session. The following is the final status of those bills we were tracking. If
a chapter number does not appear, it’s because a number has not been assigned yet.
The score card: For the 2007 session Governor Schwarzenegger signed 750 bills and
vetoed 214. This veto rate is consistent with past sessions where he has vetoed a little
over 20% of all measures that reach his desk. Peter Detwiler with the Senate Local
Government Committee has provided us with some interesting sign/veto factoids:
• Schwarzenegger vetoed more bills in four years (1,019) than Reagan did in eight
years (843).
• Schwarzenegger signed the lowest number of bills of any recent governor (729 in
2005).
• Schwarzenegger holds the record for the lowest annual average (836 a year over four
years).
• Wilson signed the fewest bills of any recent, two-term governor (9,324 over eight
years).
• Deukmejian vetoed the most bills (2,298 over eight years).
• Deukmejian vetoed the most bills in a single year (436 in 1990).
• But the highest percentage of bills vetoed came from Davis (24.91% in 2000).
• In his five years, Davis vetoed twice as many bills (1,098) as Brown did in eight years
(528).
• In 1982, Brown vetoed just 30 bills, setting the record for the lowest number of
vetoes.
• The five years with the highest number of chaptered bills were all with Republican
governors (1971, 1984, 1967, 1990, 1988).
• Although political conservatives, Deukmejian and Reagan signed more bills than
Brown, the more activist liberal.
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email: lmsa@lmsa.com