NEW NEEDLE EXCHANGE BILL VETOED

Davis On Saturday Rejects Five Bills And Signs Nine From The Mountain Of
Legislation On His desk Awaiting Action By Monday.

Legislation to make it easier for California cities and counties to develop
needle-exchange programs for intravenous drug users was vetoed Saturday by
Gov. Gray Davis.

With more than 200 bills awaiting action this weekend, Davis signed nine
measures and vetoed five, including the needle-exchange proposal, AB 946.

The measure would have revised a current requirement allowing local
governments to operate needle-exchange programs only during health
emergencies. AB 946 was one of numerous controversial proposals whose fate
was left to a governor defeated in last week's recall election but
remaining in office until votes officially are certified, a process
expected to be completed next month.

Davis has rejected Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger's request that he not
sign any pending bills during his final days in office.

Davis is expected to act on a mountain of legislation today, including
bills to allow low-income immigrants to receive a free community college
education, to restrict sales of the ephedra diet supplement, and to permit
creation of a special taxing district to help finance construction of a
professional sports arena in downtown Sacramento.

Aides said Davis tentatively plans to make decisions on all remaining
legislation today, though his deadline is not until Monday, after which any
bills remaining on the governor's desk would become law without his signature.

The needle-exchange bill, by Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Sebastopol, had
been approved by the Assembly and Senate largely along party lines, with
most Democrats supporting it and most Republicans opposed.

For years, numerous health advocates have argued that needle-exchange
programs can save lives by reducing the spread of AIDS, hepatitis and other
diseases contracted from sharing dirty needles. But opponents have argued
that California should neither sanction illicit drug use nor create
programs that enable such activity by exchanging clean needles for dirty ones.

Davis sought a middle ground in 1999, signing legislation that did not
technically "legalize" needle exchanges but barred prosecution when local
governments created such programs by declaring a health emergency and
renewing it every two weeks.

Davis' veto message for AB 946 said Berg's bill infringes on a foundation
of the compromise reached in 1999.

"(AB 946) undermines the key element that won my support for that
legislation, by eliminating the requirement for a local governing body to
make a declaration of a local emergency," Davis said.

More than a dozen needle-exchange programs exist in California and more
than 110 nationwide, according to a legislative committee analysis of AB 946.

Two Sacramento County supervisors, Illa Collin and Roger Niello, had
differing reactions to Davis' veto of AB 946.

Niello said he was not familiar with details of the bill but opposes the
concept of needle-exchange programs.

"We need to help drug users get off drugs, not give them needles to use
them safer," Niello said. "I'm just not in favor of needle exchange."

But Collin said she was disappointed by Davis' veto.

"I think most people feel that if you can stop the spread of hepatitis and
AIDS, that's good for the whole community and certainly more humane for the
people involved," she said.

In a separate action Saturday, Davis signed AB 231, which would allow food
stamp recipients to own an automobile valued at more than $4,650 without
endangering their eligibility.

Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, the Sacramento Democrat who proposed AB 231,
said the $4,650 limit makes it difficult for food stamp recipients to have
a reliable vehicle for finding and commuting to a job.

AB 231 also supports allowing alternatives to face-to-face interviews in
determining eligibility for food stamps.