How Jerry Brown has decided tough issues before

Gov. Jerry Brown, shown talking with his staff in 2012, has often faced difficult decisions on legislation.

Oct. 5, 2015 1:13 PM PT

Reporting from Sacramento — Having approved legislation allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives, Gov. Jerry Brown has to make another decision -- this one by Sunday -- about helping suffering Californians.

Lawmakers passed a bill that would allow those with life-threatening diseases access to experimental treatments, even before they are federally approved for general use. Also known as the “Right to Try Act,” AB 159 received wide support in the Legislature but is opposed by nursing groups which express concerns about patient safety.

Brown has been faced with decisions on several other hot-button issues in recent years. A few examples:

Vaccines: A bill to eliminate personal-belief exemptions from California’s child vaccination requirements drew hundreds of protesters to the Capitol this year. Brown had previously expressed support for religious exemptions, but in June he signed the legislation, which was a response to a measles outbreak traced back to Disneyland visitors.

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Sex abuse: Two years ago, lawmakers passed legislation to give some victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to file lawsuits. The measure was opposed by the Catholic church, and Brown rejected it. In an unusually long veto message, Brown said institutions should feel secure that “past acts are indeed in the past and not subject to further lawsuits.”

Transgender students: Brown signed legislation two years ago to allow California students to compete on sports teams and use bathrooms based on their gender identity rather than their sex. The measure is intended to make schools more accommodating to transgender pupils, and an attempt to block it from taking effect failed last year.

Gun control: After the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, lawmakers pushed new restrictions on guns. They included a ban on semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines, a proposal the governor rejected in October 2013. “The state of California already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country,” Brown wrote in his veto message.

Follow @chrismegerian for more updates from Sacramento.

For more political coverage, go to www.latimes.com/politics.

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