SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed legislation that would have fully repaid local agencies for about $1.6 million in costs incurred in responding to the December mass shooting in San Bernardino, saying that he did not want to set a precedent in which the state “will assume all financial responsibility for future emergency costs.”
SB1385 by Sen. Connie Leyva, a Chino Democrat, would have required the state to reimburse 100 percent of the costs incurred by local emergency agencies in responding to the terror attacks in which two gun-toting attackers killed 14 people. It was approved unanimously by the state Legislature. Normally the state repays local agencies 75 percent.
In his veto message Sunday, Brown said the state Office of Emergency Services will work with local agencies on cost recovery.
The Democratic governor, a fiscal moderate who regularly rebuffs efforts to add new state spending commitments, also announced vetoing other bills he said would have collectively cost the state $240 million, which he says should be addressed during state budget talks.
“The budget process allows for all spending proposals to be weighed equally through public hearings, negotiations, and finally, approval of a balanced budget,” Brown wrote in a veto message accompanying several of the bills. “This is the best way to evaluate and prioritize all new spending proposals, including those that increase the cost of existing programs.” Brown noted that the next budget cycle begins on Jan. 10.
Other bills Brown announced vetoing Sunday include:
- AB492 by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, and Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, which would have provided $50 per month in diaper stipends to parents participating in California welfare-to-work programs;
- AB1770 by Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, which would have extended eligibility for California food stamps to noncitizens living legally in the United States.
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