AEGiS-SFE: Arnold the social liberal

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Arnold the social liberal

San Francisco Examiner - October 8, 2004

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER came into office last year with relatively little known about how he would govern. And in the course of the 2004 legislative session in Sacramento he surprised plenty of lawmakers, sometimes vetoing bills that he had been expected to support and passing others that he had earlier criticized. But as the year progressed, some general patterns emerged. As Thursday's editorial noted, for instance, the governor tended to favor a free business environment instead of greater regulation.

Today The Examiner concludes a three-part editorial series with a look at how he handled social issues this year.

If Schwarzenegger stuck close to traditional Republican values when protecting a free marketplace and limiting the size of state government, he veered sharply left when it came to Californians' private lives.

The governor strengthened the rights of same-sex domestic partners by signing legislation requiring insurance companies to offer the same benefits to such couples they provide for married partners. He also added transgender people to the list of those protected by California laws against discrimination and hate crimes.

Schwarzenegger OK'd a measure that permits people to obtain a small number of hypodermic needles without a prescription, a move supporters say will help curb the spread of AIDS and other diseases among drug addicts and others.

The governor also approved bills that ban the sale of dangerous dietary supplements to minors, forbid coastal dumping of waste from cruise ships, open the state's car pool lanes to single-occupant hybrid cars and create the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, an agency dedicated to safeguarding the environment of the mountain range for which it is named.

The most notable exception that highlighted the rule came with his rejection of a proposal to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Other departures from the liberal trend came when Schwarzenegger rejected a bill that would have banned the use of the name "Redskins" for high-school sports teams and another measure that would have limited drug testing in schools.

What will the 2005 session bring? Will Schwarzenegger moderate his pro-business record, or strengthen the impression he and the business community are of one mind? Will he move out of the center left and draw closer to conservative Southern California Republicans, or continue his maverick pattern on social issues? And what will come of the governor's desire to reduce the size of the state bureaucracy? No one knows for sure, but there's little chance it will be dull.

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