Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed two Senate bills Sunday that would have limited pay for public higher education executives and unveiled financial records of campus organizations.
Senate Bills 218 and 86 were introduced by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, and passed by both houses of the state Legislature last month. They were two of at least 221 bills vetoed by the governor on Sunday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
When contacted Monday, the Governor’s Press Office quoted the governor’s brief veto messages.
“Subjecting the altruistic activities of private donors and volunteers to the [California Public Records Act] will have a chilling effect on their support and service,” Schwarzenegger wrote in his veto message on SB 218, which would have made the California Public Records Acts applicable to the California State University, University of California and California Community Colleges systems.
Adam Keigwin, Yee’s chief of staff, was critical of the governor’s vetoes.
“Rhetorically, he supports accountability and responsibility,” he said. “But when given an opportunity to act, he has failed to do so.”
“The bottom line is it’s important for government organizations that receive private money for public uses to be subject to openness,” Cal State Long Beach media law professor Chris Burnett said. “The public should have access to information. Media agencies should have access to information. It’s important for democracy.”
The bill would create public access to records of CSU, UC and community college auxiliary organizations. It would also apply to student associations, commercial services on campus and other campus organizations. Such organizations currently receive public funds but are not held to the same scrutiny as state organizations under the CPRA.
Schwarzenegger has a Web site dedicated to transparency in the government.
SB 86 would have barred UC regents, CSU trustees and the board of governors of the CCC from giving executive officers raises or bonuses in any fiscal year that the state general fund to the CSU is equal to or less than the previous year.
Schwarzenegger wrote that he vetoed SB 86 because “this bill would limit the ability of the UC and the CSU to continue to provide a high level of education that students deserve when they attend California public universities.” He added that capping administrators’ pay could hamper California’s ability to attract top-tier talent.
“It’s clear it would limit administration’s abilities, but these are extraordinary times,” Burnett said. “In this case, the governor was taking the side of administration over many other groups.”
CSULB President F. King Alexander referred to the bill in a previous interview with the Daily 49er as a “symbolic divergent” designed by legislators to garner press and popularity.
“Politicians do things for political reasons,” Burnett said, referring to Schwarzenegger. He said he believed there were political reasons that influenced the veto, not merely the substance of the bills.
Keigwin said there is still another year in the current legislative session and that he would not be surprised to see Yee introduce a similar legislation in the future.
“We will assess our options,” Keigwin said. “The senator will continue protecting workers, students and faculty.”
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