http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/32127.html

Winners, losers on bills' last day
Governor vetoes baby surrender, other Democratic measures.
By Jim Sanders - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, October 1, 2006
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4

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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ended the year's bill-signing period Saturday by vetoing a handful of key Democratic bills, including measures that would have allowed illegal immigrants to receive financial aid for college and extended the time a mother could legally surrender her baby.

For Democrats, the vetoes marked the end of an extraordinary four-week period in which they and the Republican governor joined forces on major proposals to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, lower drug prices for the uninsured and promote competition in the cable television field.

By the time Schwarzenegger finally put his pen down Saturday, ending a marathon of bill signings eight hours before a midnight deadline, he had vetoed 261 and approved 910. Most were proposed by Democrats and set to take effect Jan. 1.

Schwarzenegger's legislative actions come less than six weeks before the state's Nov. 7 election, potentially leaving political ammunition for and against his re-election campaign.

Key Democratic measures vetoed Saturday by Schwarzenegger includes:

• Assembly Bill 1873, to allow mothers of unwanted babies up to 30 days -- rather than the current 72 hours -- to surrender their newborns to hospital emergency rooms or other designated sites without fear of prosecution.

• Senate Bill 160, to allow illegal immigrants who graduated from California high schools to apply for state financial aid to attend college.

• Assembly Bill 2948, to commit California to a multistate compact in which states would cast their electoral votes for the presidential candidate receiving the most popular votes nationwide.

• Assembly Bill 1147, to legalize the growing of industrial hemp for in-state commerce.

• Senate Bill 440, to expand protections against unauthorized telephone charges and to notify consumers of their right to contest bills.

• Assembly Bill 1778, to prevent the unwanted release of high school students' personal information to military recruiters by taking additional steps to inform parents of their rights.

Schwarzenegger also vetoed Assembly Bill 2360, a curiosity because it was sparked by actor Tom Cruise's disclosure last year that he had purchased an ultrasound machine for his home. The bill would have reserved the sale of such equipment to licensed practitioners or medical facilities.

Dozens of other bills were approved by the governor Saturday, including measures to implement a statewide plastic bag recycling program, authorize construction of a Capitol Park memorial to California's genocide survivors, reduce lead content in pipes, and require the makers of wireless computers to warn consumers about protecting their personal information.

Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Newark, vowed to reintroduce the newborn safe-surrender bill rejected by Schwarzenegger.

"We introduce a lot of bills in Sacramento, but few have the possibility of changing people's lives," he said. "This one would have saved babies' lives."

Torrico said extending the time parents can surrender their newborns without penalty -- from three to 30 days -- would lead to more unwanted babies legally turned over to enhance their safety and security. The bill also would have authorized fire stations to accept the infants.

Critics argued the extension could backfire, leaving newborns in the hands of troubled parents who might neglect or abuse them for up to a month, perhaps waiting until visible signs of violence had faded, before surrendering them. Other opponents said AB 1873 could increase county costs and encourage parents to bypass adoption procedures, thus depriving fathers of their parental rights.

In California, "safely surrendered" babies are turned over to county officials for adoption, but since the abandonment process sidesteps typical adoption procedures, adoptive parents could be deprived of vital health and genealogical information, critics said.

Schwarzenegger, in his veto message, said AB 1873 could put "newborns in greater risk by keeping them in an unsafe environment without proper care and supervision."

Torrico disagreed, saying the veto means that parents who can't decide whether to surrender their baby within three days will end up keeping it, even though they don't appreciate the newborn and could lose control and harm it.

Schwarzenegger's veto of Senate Bill 160, regarding college aid for illegal immigrants, also prompted a vow by its author to reintroduce the measure in January.

Current law allows illegal immigrants attending California's public colleges or universities to pay a lower amount, called "in-state tuition," if they attended high school in the state for at least three years and earned a diploma. Schwarzenegger supports the existing "in-state" tuition law, but he rejected SB 160, which would have extended the concept further by allowing those illegal immigrants to apply for financial aid.

In his veto message, Schwar- zenegger said providing such aid to illegal immigrants would be unfair to legal residents.

"While I do not believe that undocumented children should be penalized for the acts of their parents, this bill would penalize students here legally by reducing the financial aid they rely on to allow them to go to college and pursue their dreams," he said.

State Sen. Gil Cedillo, who proposed SB 160, said that by denying financial aid, the state could unfairly deprive immigrants of a quality education. He argued that some of California's best and brightest students would be forced, because of their immigration status, into menial jobs in an era when the United States needs skilled workers to compete in a global marketplace, Cedillo said.

"These children had no say in where they grew up," he said. "The only decision they made was to study hard, work hard and play by the rules. If they've done that, why should we discriminate against them?"