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Rules, Regs and Political Snips

by Melinda Eppler

 

7th Time’s a Charm

Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) was at last victorious in his quest for Californians to “put down the cell phone and drive.” SB 1613, signed by the governor late last month, mandates hands-free cell phone use for drivers beginning July 2008. Data from the California Highway Patrol showed that not only were cell phones the No. 1 cause of distracted driving accidents, but that hands-free mobile device technology substantially reduced the number of crashes.
    Simitian had been trying to pass the bill for six years. “We’ve got this readily available technology that costs next to nothing and saves lives. My argument has been, why not use it?” Simitian says. Opponents believe the bill unfairly singles out cell phones as the cause for distracted driving.
    Why do Californians have to wait until 2008? The Department of Motor Vehicles needs the time to update its manuals and give drivers time to get used to the idea. Simitian thinks cell-phone technology will likely improve by then, making hands-free apparatus better and more affordable.
    Contrary to the normal trend, California lags behind Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Washington, D.C., in the passage of similar legislation.
    If you get caught using your hand-held phone behind the wheel, the new law will impose a $20 fine for a first offense and $50 for subsequent offenses. And, for risk takers, infractions will not result in adding points to motorist driving records.
    The legislation exempts 911 calls and emergency personnel who use cell phones as part of a response to a call. The bill also exempts operators of farming vehicles, tow truck drivers and commercial truck drivers.
Only one cell phone company, Sprint Nextel, formally opposed the bill. In a release the company stated the bill “fails to address the real issue of inattentive driving and singles out just one potential distraction, the hand-held wireless phone. It ignores many other more significant causes of inattentive driving, including drowsiness, smoking, and adjusting the radio/CD player. And it fails to distinguish between inexperienced teen drivers, who may be easily distracted, and experienced adult drivers whose maturity make them capable of operating an automobile safely while speaking on a wireless phone.”
    Perhaps there is a legislator out there brave enough to take on communication conglomerates to mandate voice-controlled station changers in all vehicles.

Rx for DHS
Little thunder was heard after the passage of legislation that will be a major change-maker for the state’s health-services system. To their credit, the Legislature and governor swiftly approved SB 162 at the final hour, thereby paving the way for the huge, overly encumbered Department of Health Services (DHS) to be split into two departments.
    The existing department will be renamed the Department of Health Care Services and will manage the state’s $34 billion Medi-Cal program. So there is no confusion for Californians, the new department will be called the Department of Public Health. The governor will appoint a physician or surgeon to head the DPH, and he or she will have to be confirmed by the state Senate.
    “The separate department is needed because too much focus in the DHS is on operating and managing the state’s Medi-Cal system, leaving little focus on emerging medical issues, such as West Nile and the Avian Flu.” Further, states Sen. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento), “When we face a Katrina-like disaster, we will be glad we have the means to take care of ourselves and the infrastructure, that this change will make.
“California will be better able to protect and prevent outbreaks of infectious disease, provide proactive obesity and disease-prevention programs, and respond to environmental catastrophes and bioterrorism attacks.”

Post Perspectives
The Sacramento Bee, a major sponsor of Perspectives, printed a pretty thorough synopsis of the event the following day. Some take-aways that weren’t captured:
Former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, with all his overt Bushisms (bobbing head, stern look, occasional speech cadence), was very direct that the terrorism threat is something Americans, post-9/11, will forever have to confront. According to Ridge, “When you enter the TSA area in your travels, say ‘thank you’ to the men and women working, because they’re just doing their job … and their job, ladies and gentlemen, is something we want and need them to do well.”
    Former Senator and presidential nominee Bob Dole, though fairly long in the tooth, still has tremendous sensibility and wit. After spending most of his life in public service, many of those years with the world’s elite, his poignant message to Sacramento’s elite was “Reach out and touch someone today.” This distinguished gentleman, reading from a poem that he said he had saved for decades, his voice cracking word to word, said, “Don’t wait until tomorrow to call an old friend — or lift someone’s spirit — do it today.”
    While Soledad O’Brien’s speech was criticized by some as unfocused, and even had some saying she was preaching to the choir in the capital of the nation’s most diverse state, many of the points she made about the need for Americans to try harder to embrace and nurture diversity in the workplace were points Sacramentans needed to hear.
    Except that the Metro Chamber’s chair of its board of directors is African-American, and that the representative of the event’s presidential sponsor (Bank of America) is Hispanic, the reality was the Sacramento Convention Center was filled with a fairly homogeneous crowd, some 5,000 strong.
The importance of O’Brien’s comments were further validated in the news soon after the passing of homemaker-turned-(Texas)-governor, Ann Richards. Richards, who preceded “W” in the Texas governor’s mansion, entered politics to help others, especially women and minorities who were often ignored by the Texas male-dominated establishment.
    As governor, Richards appointed the first black University of Texas regent, the first crime victim to the state Criminal Justice Board, the first disabled person to the Human Services Board and the first teacher to lead the State Board of Education. Under Richards, the fabled Texas Rangers pinned stars on their first black and female officers.
    From where Californians sit, it’s hard to believe this is all part of recent American history. However, Ron Kirk, the black former mayor of Dallas, said Richards helped him get his first political internship during a state constitutional convention in 1974. Later, as governor, she made him secretary of state. “She set the table so somebody like me could become mayor of Dallas,” Kirk said.
    So, it seems, even in the capital of the most diverse state in the country, O’Brien’s 30 minutes, spent on the value of diversity in the workplace, was 30 minutes well spent.
    The Sacramento Bee didn’t say anything about former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle’s speech, mostly because there wasn’t much to say about what he said. His most entertaining moment came during the staged Dole vs. Daschle debate. Master of Ceremonies Tom Sullivan questioned the two about W’s obsession with Iran, to which Daschle responded. “Well, we all know that Ahmadinejad (the President of Iran) is a fruitcake.”
    To continue the conversation on Perspectives, especially to get your voice heard on potential speakers for next year, check out Prosper’s ongoing Perspectives Blog.

Hollywood Shows Gov Love
Some of Hollywood’s most influential Democrats are throwing their support behind the governor’s re-election bid, following the lead of Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and media mogul Haim Saban.
    A fundraising event hosted by Sherry Lansing, Casey Wasserman, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, director James Cameron and more than two dozen others asked Hollywood’s finest to contribute up to $22,300 each to attend the party at Saban’s Beverly Hills estate on Sept. 30.
    Political insiders say that the governor’s Democratic Hollywood supporters, generally more middle-of-the-road than outspoken-liberal types such as Sean Penn and Michael Moore, are willing to support Schwarzenegger because they believe he has taken a nonpartisan approach to some of their key causes, including stem-cell research, school reform and global warming.
    State Treasurer Phil Angelides and his campaign team downplayed the support, reportedly stating that this select Hollywood crowd was “basically a group of people who are social friends of Arnold and Maria’s, and I don’t think it is anything beyond that. There’s not a name on the list that’s a surprise. Not one. It’s just the usual suspects.”
We’ll see … 

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