Guest Editorial: Gov. Brown stops invasion of bad legislation

This editorial is from the San Jose Mercury News:

Sometimes good government is less about making good things happen than stopping bad things from happening.

In that spirit - thank you, Gov. Jerry Brown.

With a scrawl of his veto pen, Brown stopped multibillion-dollar telecom companies from getting carte blanché to put cellphone antennas anywhere they want on taxpayer-owned public property and pay next to nothing for the privilege.

He also rejected a bill to take disputes over water rights away from the state Water Resources Control Board - that is, the experts - and assign them to administrative law judges unlikely to be sufficiently educated in the highly complex field. Guess who wins in that scenario.

The cell antenna bill was the most flagrant sellout by the Legislature. Hundreds of cities and nearly 50 counties were up in arms, faced with losing substantial revenue - at least $30 million a year statewide and likely much more.

Even more galling, communities would have been stripped of bargaining power to get companies to provide high-speed service to poor neighborhoods even though the wealthy ones generate most of their profits.

As one example of potential harm, the law would have given the companies priority over cities' and counties' own plans for public safety communications equipment on public property.

In his veto message, Brown, who has served as Oakland's mayor, mentioned the questionable legality of taking away communities' right to control their own property, among other valid criticisms. Questionable indeed.

Lawmakers who pushed this bill, SB 649 by Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, should be ashamed of themselves. It was a direct sellout to a powerful industry at the expense of constituents.

While less sweeping in scope, AB 313 by Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, was another example of a powerful lobby - this time Big Agriculture - throwing its weight around. It aimed to curb the ability of the state Water Resources Control Board to enforce legal limits on diversion of water from rivers and other waterways.

When water was plentiful, a little extra pumped here and there from public supplies wasn't a big deal. But during the drought, the water board got serious about tracking allocations and enforcing limits based on water rights. The board has staff that painstakingly investigates claims, calling on scientists and engineers as well as attorneys.

Big Ag wants someone else to decide what's legal or not. Maybe even someone who hasn't a clue about this truly byzantine field of law.

Brown acknowledged in his veto message that the board's hearing process might need improvement and asked the state Environmental Protection Agency to review it. But the state Supreme Court in 2011, in a case brought by the California Farm Bureau Federation, found that due process was provided.

On both these bills, Brown stood for broad public rights against moneyed interests. It was the governor at his best.