Jerry Brown signs ‘brew bike’ bill, goes for spin

Every year the Legislature swamps Gov. Jerry Brown with hundreds of bills, and every year – despite signing most of them – he complains.

In 2013, Brown said “these damn bills” were keeping him from more important matters. In vetoing a slate of crime-related legislation Saturday, Brown encouraged lawmakers to “pause and reflect” before further expanding California’s criminal code.

But on Sunday – and on a bill concerning no less pressing an issue than beer drinking on “brew bikes” – the fourth-term Democrat appeared to loosen up.

Brown signed legislation that evening allowing people on pedicabs with as many as 15 riders to imbibe if their city permits it and if a safety monitor is on board. Then he put down his pen and took a brief ride on a beer bike in Sacramento.

“Pedal harder, governor,” a woman called out in a video posted by Brown’s office on Twitter. “Pedal faster.”

Brown signed Senate Bill 530, by Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, without comment. But he was accompanied on the beer bike by his wife, Anne Gust Brown, his executive secretary, Nancy McFadden, and his two dogs. A Twitter account managed for one of them, Sutter, provided some reasoning for his decision:

This story was originally published October 4, 2015 at 8:57 PM.