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  The veto pen of Gov. Jerry Brown
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ContributorJason 
Last EditedJason  Sep 17, 2011 06:52am
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CategoryEditorial
News DateMonday, September 12, 2011 12:00:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionGov. Jerry Brown will have a hot pen this month as he signs or vetoes bills passed during the legislative session that ended Friday. There's no telling what will pass muster and what won't, but a look at some of his recent veto decisions reveals our past and present governor as a man with a smart legal mind who usually does the right thing — except when his curmudgeonly evil twin takes over.

Some of Brown's veto messages and other memos are concise masterpieces of legislative wisdom. On AB 412, which allows Santa Barbara County to increase criminal fines to pay for local emergency services, Brown allowed the bill to pass without his signature, writing: "Obviously, these penalty assessments are for good purposes.... Costs of such projects, however, should not be borne by a narrow class of citizens. Those who break the law should be fairly punished for their transgressions, but not be subjected to ever-increasing costs that are more properly the responsibility of the public at large. Sooner or later, we must find better ways to pay for the public goods we truly need." It was an eloquent way to express distaste for the bill while acknowledging that the county can't get by without it.

A similar philosophy prompted Brown to veto SB 28, which would have increased the fines for talking on a cellphone while driving without using a hands-free device. "For people of ordinary means, current fines and penalty assessments should be sufficient deterrent," Brown wrote. Quite right. By the time fees and penalties are tacked on, the current ticket for holding a phone to one's ear costs about $190 for a first offense; the bill would have upped that to around $310. Cellphone conversations do increase the risk of accidents, but it's not at all clear that hands-free devices reduce the risk.
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