Key Bills by Delegation Become Law : Legislature: Area Republicans focus on crime and business. Democrats also score successes.

SACRAMENTO —  The surge of crime-busting sentiment that capped the final year of the 1993-94 legislative session created a political climate more favorable than usual to Ventura County’s Republican lawmakers.

It was a year of whipping criminals and the economy into shape. And, with Gov. Pete Wilson’s reelection hopes setting the agenda, the county’s Republican legislators succeeded in getting a number of anti-crime and pro-business bills signed into law.

The normally low-profile Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills), for instance, prospered with topical bills addressing the needs of victims of rape, sexual molestation and other crimes.

Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard), an advocate for the business community, got a boost in his first term as a result of the emphasis on California’s economic recovery. State Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) succeeded in getting nearly every one of her bills signed to reduce the burden of hazardous waste regulations on business.

Ventura County Democrats did score some key successes. After years of trying, Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) won the Republican governor’s signature on a bill to protect the coastline from new offshore oil drilling.

And state Sen. Gary Hart (D-Santa Barbara) won support and Wilson’s signature for legislation disarming domestic violence offenders and students who carry guns to school. But he lost on some critical educational issues that he had supported for years.

Hart--with 20 years’ experience in the Capitol, the most veteran member of the county’s delegation--expressed a measure of discontent with the two-year session.

“I don’t think this session of the Legislature measures up,” Hart said, noting his setbacks in education funding, classroom testing and education reform. “It was a bit of a disappointment in comparison to other years.”

From the other side of the aisle, however, Takasugi voiced a more favorable impression.

“I felt good about having a part in getting legislation passed to help businesses,” he said, citing in particular reform of the workers’ compensation system.

Here is a glance at some of the highlights of the 1993-94 legislative session for each delegation member:

Paula Boland

Assemblywoman

In her role as vice chairwoman of the Assembly Public Safety Committee, Boland takes credit for helping win votes for some tough-on-crime bills such as the one-strike and three-strikes sentencing measures in the governor’s package.

The bills she successfully authored and got signed into law include one forbidding prison inmates from changing their names, another requiring disclosure of HIV test results to rape victims, and another expanding the statute of limitations for child molestation cases.

She also stepped in with a new law to protect the privacy of jurors--after information published about jurors in the Simi Valley trial of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King resulted in the harassment of some panel members.

Boland said she also considers crucial her new law giving federal peace officers the authority to step in during a state of emergency to serve alongside local law enforcement personnel.

Boland also strongly touts the pro-business philosophy of her party leaders. In a ranking of state legislators, the California Chamber of Commerce gave her a perfect score for casting votes on its side--the only 100% rating given to a county lawmaker.

“What we have to realize is that business means jobs. And jobs mean Mom and Dad are working,” Boland said. “That means a healthy environment for the family, and a healthy economy.”

Of the 47 bills Boland introduced in the two-year session, 15 were signed into law.

Jack O’Connell

Assemblyman

In obtaining the governor’s signature for the California Coastal Sanctuary Act, O’Connell played up the kinds of benefits that Wilson likes: “It’s designed to help our fishing industry and tourist industry--and protect our coastline,” O’Connell says.

The new law forbids any new drilling projects within state waters that stretch three miles out to sea, along the entire 1,100-mile California coastline.

O’Connell also wrote a new law to rid the legal code of outmoded 19th-Century statutes. His bill to require elder care and adult care workers to undergo background checks was signed into law, and so was a bill requiring Caltrans to post signs citing local points of interest.

O’Connell set up a new California Strawberry Commission, but lost on an issue that appealed to those trying to re-establish the California condor in Ventura County: Wilson vetoed a bill requiring makers of antifreeze and coolant to add bittering agents to their products, thus making the syrupy liquids unpalatable to animals in the wild.

For O’Connell, the most disappointing veto, however, was of a bill to expand funding for community colleges.

If he had one overriding regret, O’Connell said, it was over the snail’s pace at which the state is moving to build a four-year college campus in Ventura County. “We need to move with more dispatch toward making a public four-year institution a reality,” he said.

Of 38 bills O’Connell introduced, 24 were signed into law.

Nao Takasugi

Assemblyman

When Takasugi arrived in the Legislature two years ago, he was floored at how deep the partisan divisions ran and how tardy everyone was to meetings and legislative sessions.

Now, he says, “I’m beginning to understand the system better. But I still find it very frustrating being in the minority party.”

Takasugi has noticed that bills he favors--those that further Republican goals--sometimes die in committees controlled by Democrats.

But Takasugi’s bills in his second year fared well. Of 18 bills he introduced, he said, 12 passed and were signed into law.

Among them were a handful of measures exempting income or products from taxation. Now, a whistle-blower’s cash reward for calling a crime hot line will no longer be subject to state income taxes. And elderly patients buying meals in rest homes will no longer have to pay a sales tax.

Takasugi also got a permanent extension of a state program to settle tax disputes.

The governor also signed a Takasugi bill requiring three state agencies to review security measures at their field offices as a result of the Oxnard unemployment office killings. And the assemblyman secured a new law requiring notification of educators when trouble-making students guilty of serious crimes are returned to public schools.

As the first Asian American to serve in the Legislature in 12 years, Takasugi co-authored a bill to recognize Asian Americans as identifiable sectors of California’s population as counted by the state Department of Finance.

Of 36 bills Takasugi authored, 17 were signed into law.

Cathie Wright

State Senator

In the second year of her first state Senate term, Wright continued her march through a 2-inch-thick hazardous waste handling law, looking for ways to simplify and streamline it.

Wright, who took up the issue in the Assembly before getting elected to the state Senate in 1992, has said one of her main goals is to reduce the burden that such laws place on small businesses.

As vice chairwoman of the Toxics and Public Safety Management Committee, Wright has advanced a number of bills to reduce paperwork and red tape for businesses that handle toxic material.

She has obtained Wilson’s signature on about 15 bills to refine existing laws calling for regulation and inspection of any business that handles hazardous waste--from hospitals to large photo processing outfits.

Wright also got signed into law a bill toughening probation requirements for sexual offenders and child molesters.

For earthquake victims, she pushed through a law exempting taxpayers from late penalties if quake damage prevented them from filing tax payments on time. The new law also removed penalties for early withdrawal from individual retirement accounts in hardship cases brought on by the Jan. 17 temblor.

Before progressing even halfway through her four-year term, Wright decided she would run for higher office as the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. She could not be reached for comment.

Of 52 bills Wright introduced, 28 were signed into law.

Gary Hart

State Senator

If Boland’s efforts got a leg up by this year’s get-tough mood in the Legislature and the governor’s office, then Hart’s agenda may have suffered.

Hart reported getting a higher number of vetoes than usual from Wilson, particularly on some of the state senator’s more visionary education-related bills: a measure to fund and reshape the CLAS test, another to allow increased school property taxes following a majority vote instead of a two-thirds vote, and another to permit more schools to break off from districts and become charter campuses.

“I thought these were bills that the governor could see fit to sign,” Hart said. “But instead he suckered down anything that wasn’t ‘three strikes and you’re out.’ Any changes other than ‘law and order’ went down this year.”

Hart, one of the top-rated lawmakers in the Capitol, is in his last term. He is expected to announce a new career--probably in education and based in Sacramento, he says--after the first of the year.

Among his new laws is one that stemmed from the Oxnard state unemployment office shooting rampage that left five dead. The measure increases benefits for survivors of state workers killed in the line of duty from a few months’ payment to a lifetime stipend.

Wilson also signed a Hart measure that starts the statute of limitations clock when an oil spill is discovered, rather than when it occurred.

Another successful Hart law helps ease the state’s transition from a defense-reliant economy by creating the California Defense Conversion Council.

Of 63 bills Hart introduced, 28 were signed into law.

Legislative Score Card

Here is a look at highlights from the 1993-95 legislative session for state lawmakers representing Ventura County:

*

State Sen. Gary Hart (D-Santa Barbara)

18th Senate District (includes portions of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, including parts of the cities of Carpinteria, Moorpark, Ojai, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Barbara and Santa Paula)

Elected to the Assembly in 1974, to the Senate in 1982

Career before Statehouse: educator

Retiring December, 1994

Specialty areas: education, environmental protection, child care

Key bills authored and signed into law:

* SB 555, requires doctors treating pesticide exposure to file complete reports with local health officials.

* SB 458, creates the California Defense Conversion Council to aid in economic growth.

* SB 1278, prohibits someone convicted of domestic violence from carrying firearms.

* SB 1570, provides increased benefits for survivors of state employees killed in the line of duty.

Bill passage rate: Of 63 bills Hart introduced, 28 were signed into law.

Voting record: Hart abstained or was absent from 17% of his floor votes, 22% of his committee votes. Hart voted yes 79% of the time, no 4%.

*

State Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley)

19th Senate District (includes Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Fillmore, Moorpark, Northridge, Oxnard, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks)

First elected to the Assembly in 1980, to the Senate in 1992

Term limit: 2000

Career before Statehouse: insurance underwriter

Running for lieutenant governor

Specialty areas: toxics and hazardous waste legislation, family law, children’s mental health

Key bills authored and signed into law:

* SB 927, reduces regulation and paperwork for businesses that recycle dry-cleaning solvent.

* SB 1038, waives state penalties for early withdrawal of IRAs by earthquake victims.

* SB 1619, requires courts to consider certain factors before granting probation to a sex offender.

* SB 1706, streamlines remedial plan requirements for hazardous waste sites.

Bill passage rate: Of 52 bills Wright introduced, 28 were signed into law.

Voting record: Wright abstained or was absent from 4% of her floor votes, 2% of her committee votes. Wright voted yes 79% of the time, no 18%.

*

Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria)

35th Assembly District (includes parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties and the cities of Ventura, Carpinteria, Ojai, Buellton, Santa Barbara, Santa Paula, Solvang)

Elected to Assembly in 1982

Term limit: 1996

Career before Statehouse: teacher

Running for state Senate Nov. 8

Specialty areas: education, environmental protection, economy

Key bills authored and signed into law:

* AB 2444, creates the California Coastal Sanctuary Act to ban offshore drilling in state waters.

* AB 2339, requires state Department of Transportation to post tourism road signs pointing out local highlights to travelers.

* AB 3477, requires workers who care for elderly to undergo background checks similar to teachers.

* AB 485, establishes a “spaceport” unit to attract federal funds for commercial space activities at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Bill passage rate: Of 38 bills O’Connell introduced, 24 were signed into law.

Voting record: O’Connell abstained or was absent from 5% of his floor votes, 5% of his committee votes. He voted yes 93% of the time, no 2%.

*

Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard)

37th Assembly District (includes Oxnard, Camarillo and Thousand Oaks)

Elected to the Assembly in 1992

Term limit: 1998

Career before Statehouse: Oxnard mayor, small businessman

Running for reelection Nov. 8

Specialty areas: overhaul of income, property and sales taxes

Key bills authored and signed into law:

* AB 3305, exempts cash rewards from crime hot lines from state income tax.

* AB 3309, requires notification of school officials when a juvenile with a criminal record returns to public school.

* AB 3314, requires three state departments to review security measures at field offices.

* AB 3308, extends a state program encouraging settlements of past tax disputes with the state taxing board.

Bill passage rate: Of 36 bills Takasugi introduced, 17 were signed into law.

Voting record: Takasugi abstained or was absent from 5% of his floor votes, 10% of his committee votes. He voted yes 77% of the time, no 17%.

*

Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills)

38th Assembly District (includes Simi Valley, Fillmore, Piru and part of Thousand Oaks, Castaic, Chatsworth and Northridge)

Elected to the Assembly in 1990

Term limit: 1996

Career before Statehouse: realtor and businesswoman

Running for reelection Nov. 8

Specialty areas: crime, victims’ rights, Los Angeles school district breakup

Key bills authored and signed into law:

* AB 290, lifts statute of limitations for pressing charges of child molestation.

* AB 1915, allows jurors to keep personal data secret in high-profile trials.

* AB 2782, prohibits inmates from changing their names while in prison.

* AB 2815, requires notification of victims if convicted rapist tests positive for HIV.

Bill passage rate: Of 47 bills Boland introduced, 15 were signed into law.

Voting record: Boland abstained or was absent from 1% of her floor votes, 7% of her committee votes. She voted yes 76% of the time, no 22%.

Source: Legi-tech, legislative offices