Peter Detwiler, longtime chief consultant of the state Senate Governance and Finance Committee, retired last week after 40 years of public service.

Few people outside of the Capitol have heard of him. But far more than most elected officials, Detwiler worked to improve state government in ways big and small.

For more than 30 years he helped lawmakers understand and shape the laws that govern us.

The California Legislature generates thousands of new laws a year. Many legislators never read the measures they vote on, or even those they author. Even if they did, many would not understand them.

These bills can run hundreds of pages long and are studded with references to obscure code sections. Substituting the word "shall" for the word "may" or inserting an "and" instead of an "or," or even the addition of a comma can dramatically alter what the proposed law really does.

Legislators count on committee consultants, people like Detwiler, to read, interpret, explain and sometimes write bills. The analyses the consultants prepare are read more avidly than the bill itself. The best explain in simple language what a proposed statute will do, why it's needed, what it will cost, what interests support or oppose it and why and, finally, the legislative history of similar measures.

Consultants who prepare analyses are crucial to the integrity and effectiveness of lawmaking in California. As knowledgeable and experienced legislators are forced out of office by term limits, new generations rely even more on the experienced professionals who write bill analyses.

Peter Detwiler was one of the best, a legend in fact. His analyses were always thorough, well- written and entertaining. Most important, Detwiler pulled no punches, even with his boss's bills.

His last boss, Sen. Lois Wolk, a Davis Democrat who chairs the Governance and Finance Committee, remembers raising questions with him about an unflattering analysis he'd written about one of her bills.

The senator said she learned quickly that it was a "tradition in the committee not to hold back on bills, especially with the chair's bill."

Detwiler was a favorite with reporters, myself included. Writing on deadline about a complicated piece of legislation, and faced with contradictory assertions from opposing interest groups, I could always count on Detwiler to break it down and explain it in understandable terms.

Most important, I could trust him "not to pull any punches."

Happy retirement, Peter Detwiler. You've earned it.

– grutland@sacbee.com

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