Attorney General Jerry Brown railed against what he said was an "unending escalation of pervasive legal prescription" Wednesday, according to a news report, striking some of the same notes played by the Republican gubernatorial candidates he may go up against if he formally declares his candidacy for governor.
Brown was talking to the 7th Annual General Counsel West Coast Convention in San Francisco and, according to an account by Legal News Line, criticized what he said was the growing limits placed by state regulations.
Brown even critiqued the California Environmental Quality Act of 1970, which was signed by Gov. Ronald Reagan and requires environmental and other impacts be considered when approving projects.
"That provides for a broad range of possible problems," Brown is quoted as saying. "Never did (Gov. Reagan) dream that he was setting up a very comprehensive land-use function inside the judiciary."
The convention's publicists said a recording of Brown's speech was not available Thursday.
GOP candidates Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner and Tom Campbell regularly blame what they say is over-regulation for dampening economic development in the state.
The Legal News Line story says:
The Democrat told corporate legal officers that California's vast amount of environmental and workplace laws and regulations creates unnecessary litigation."We are moving every year to add more and more legal prescription to our lives, to our organizations, to our businesses and how we all function," Brown said, estimating that the state has about 30,000 more laws today than when he was a two-term governor from 1975 to 1983.
"We're overlaid too much with too many rules," Brown said. "The real challenge for lawyers and legislators and chief executives is to do no harm and to add to the system ways that give more elbow room, more flexibility, more discretion, more judgment."
The story also quotes Brown saying, "The capacity to manage people in society by unending escalation of pervasive legal prescription is questionable."
Torey Van Oot and the Bee Capitol Bureau report on the people and politics of California government. Get 
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