Schwarzenegger Vetoes Pro-Family Bills as Corporate Interests Trump Family Values

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Julius Young

The blizzard of vetoes issued by Governor Schwarzenegger this past weekend highlight the fact this is not a family-values governor. In almost every instance Schwarzenegger sided with the corporate lobbyists and the Chamber of Commerce rather than family values activists.

Over the last few decades the Republican Party has attempted to portray itself as pro-family values. But as New York Times columnist David Brooks recently observed, the party has recently been unable to connect with the concerns and aspirations of middle class voters. Voters who work two jobs so they can pay the bills. Voters who need some flexibility in their lives so they can balance the needs of work, home and extended family. Voters who are an injury away from losing a grip on their finances and homes. Even the vaunted “soccer moms” so key in many legislative races share family concerns.

Some thought Arnold might show an independent streak by signing some of the pro-family bills that survived legislative scrutiny this year. Any hope for that died over the weekend. The overall picture that emerges is a Governor who does not put family values first.

Examples of the pro-family bills vetoed by Schwarzenegger include the following:

• SB 549 (Corbett)-this bill would have protected the job of a worker taking time off to attend to the funeral of a family member.

• SB 727 (Kuehl)-this bill provided that employees covered by family temporary disability insurance (FTDI) could take the leave to care for a grandparent, siblings, grandchildren and parent-in-law.

• AB 537 (Swanson)-this bill expanded the definition of family under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) to allow eligible workers to take job-protected leave to care for a seriously ill adult child, sibling, grandchild, or parent in law.