Former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis joined Republican predecessors Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian in filing a friend-of-the-court brief Wednesday supporting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's line-item vetoes of $489 million in state spending this summer.
The California Chamber of Commerce, the California Taxpayers Association and the California Business Roundtable also signed the amicus brief.
Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto authority to cut the funds out of the July budget revision, which he said was necessary because the Legislature failed to pass the entire deal he negotiated with legislative leaders behind closed doors. Lawmakers left the budget slightly in the red, and Schwarzenegger adjusted their plan with cuts and cost shifts to help build a $500 million reserve.
Social service groups and Democratic leaders filed suit this summer against the governor's veto cuts to programs serving AIDS patients, disabled residents and children. The petitioners in the case believe Schwarzenegger's vetoes were illegal because the July plan was a budget revision, rather than the series of expenditures already approved in the February budget. As such, they believe spending cuts are not subject to further reductions through veto under the constitution.
Davis, whom voters recalled in 2003, has sided with the Republican governor who replaced him rather than his fellow Democrats. The brief filed Wednesday suggests that if the suit is validated, legislators could "scheme" to alter the state budget through bills that escape the governor's line-item veto authority.
"Under the guise of a fiscal crisis, petitioners, intervenors and amici have invented a theory out of whole cloth to deprive governors of the authority that has been conferred on them by the California Constitution since 1922. Neutering a governor during a fiscal crisis is irresponsible, particularly when such action is not supported by logic, reason or law."
Torey Van Oot and the Bee Capitol Bureau report on the people and politics of California government. Get 
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