One of the bills he rejected was Assembly Bill 1863, a measure by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino to mandate the enhanced teaching of Italian American history in California schools. The governor said in his veto message, “I continue to believe that the state should establish rigorous academic standards and frameworks, but refrain from being overly prescriptive in specific school curriculum.”
Another Portantino bill, AB 1366, was vetoed by the governor. The measure would require local governments to have submitted annual housing element progress report to qualify for affordable housing money from the state. According to the governor’s veto message, “While compliance with housing element law is important, withholding funding would have the effect of reducing affordable housing options in communities where they are most needed.”
Sen. Jack Scott had 22 measures approved by the Legislature in this, his final year in the state Senate. Five came bouncing back from the governor during the first push of vetoes.
Senate Bill 1499, a bill which initially would have banned the sale of metallic balloons and then was amended to just restrict them, was vetoed by the governor. The bill was sponsored by local power companies to prevent outages when the balloons touched live lines.
Schwarzenegger said he was being forced to prioritize measures because of the budget delay. He said, “I am only signing bills that are of the highest priority for California. This bill does not meet that standard.”
Also rejected by the governor was SB 1111, designed to simplify the test taking required in public schools to meet state and federal standards.
