Amador County Democrats

Assemblymember Alyson Huber is calling on Governor Schwarzenegger to sign her bill, AB 579, which would examine the workload and salaries of state board and commission members. In recent days, the Governor has threatened to veto all bills on his desk if a deal is not reached over the water crisis in California.

"Water is an extremely critical issue and we must take the appropriate time necessary to craft a workable, reasonable solution to the water crisis, not rush something through under threat," said Assemblymember Alyson Huber. "There are many important bills sitting on the Governor’s desk that are the result of months of hard work and it would be wasteful to start again from scratch."

Huber cited a bill she authored, AB 579. "My bill would help save taxpayer money by examining the bloated salaries of ex-legislators and the politically connected who are appointed to state boards and commissions – a practice even the Governor himself has called into question."

In a June 2, 2009 address to the Legislature, the Governor said, "every dollar we save from those boards and commissions is a dollar that can be used to help our most vulnerable citizens." AB 579 will provide the Governor and the Legislature a non-partisan assessment of which appointees work full-time and provide value to taxpayers and which ones do not. The bill passed out of both houses of the Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support.

"I came to Sacramento to give my constituents the change they were looking for and hold the state accountable. AB 579 will do just that and deserves to be signed. Vetoing all bills is not the answer and will contribute nothing to crafting a water solution," concluded Huber.

Assemblymember Huber is encouraging all her constituents to contact the Governor and urge him to sign AB 579. She also has two other bills awaiting the Governor’s signature, AB 870 regarding school campus weapons ban and AB 716, a veteran’s resources bill.

For more information, visit www.asm.ca.gov/huber.