NEW ATTORNEY GENERAL CONCENTRATES ON CIVIL RIGHTS

Lockyer doubles division's staff; boasts how he voted for medical marijuana

On the anniversary of Martin Luther King's birthday, Attorney General Bill
Lockyer said Friday he will double the budget and staff devoted to combating
civil rights violations.

Lockyer said he is creating a special civil rights section that will
aggressively enforce laws banning discrimination in housing, employment and
promotion and prosecute hate crimes. He also said he will set up regional
civil rights commissions where local leaders can meet to discuss their
concerns and then funnel them to his office.

"The status of civil rights enforcement is being elevated" after years of
being treated as "an afterthought," Lockyer said at a press conference held
in front of a mural of Cesar Chavez at the Mission District elementary
school that bears the labor leader's name.

One thing he won't be doing, he added, is looking for ways to prosecute
people who distribute marijuana under the state's medical marijuana
provision. Unlike his predecessor, Republican Dan Lungren, Lockyer said he
voted for Proposition 215 and supports the controversial law.

"If we can give terminally ill people morphine, it seems we should be able
to give them this medicine," he said.

A welcome change

As Lockyer announced his five-part civil rights plan, he was accompanied by
more than a dozen civil rights activists and civic leaders, including San
Francisco Fire Chief Bob Demmons, who was one of two African Americans when
he joined the department in 1974. Lockyer said the plan includes a
commitment to ensure diversity within the state's Department of Justice.
California's recent ban on affirmative action will not preclude strong
efforts to recruit underrepresented groups, he said.

His plan was applauded by civil rights activists as a "major turnaround" in
the attorney general's office.

"This is a real turning point," said Herbert Yamanishi, national director of
the Japanese American Citizens League, who attended the press conference.
"We're focusing on civil rights instead of civil wrongs. It will be the end
of the wedge issue. At least now we'll have an opportunity to have the laws
work well."

Beth Parker, program director of Equal Rights Advocates, said she welcomes
an attorney general who's not against civil rights interests.

"He's already met with the civil rights community a month ago and it's the
first time an attorney general has met with us instead of litigating against
us," Parker said.

Beefing up department

Under his plan, the Department of Justice will add three attorneys to the
civil rights section, bringing the total to six, and create two positions
for special investigators. The additions will make the civil rights section
equal to or larger than divisions in other populous states. New York, New
Jersey and Florida already have six attorneys, according to statistics
provided by Lockyer's office.

The staff will face new responsibilities, including filing "friend of the
court" briefs in important state and federal appellate court cases, doing
more community outreach and public education to prevent discrimination, and
responding "in a timely manner" to alleged violation of state civil rights
laws.

Lockyer said he is considering taking action on a ruling this week by the
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals backing the right of landlords to deny
housing to unmarried couples for religious reasons. He said he has contacted
attorneys general in other Western states to discuss a possible request for
further review.

Lockyer named Deputy Attorney General Louis Verdugo, a 22-year veteran of
the Department of Justice, to head the new Civil Rights Enforcement Section.
Verdugo said the added staff will help reduce the backlog of cases in the
section.

The new regional civil rights commissions created by the attorney general's
office will be comprised of a cross section of consumer advocates, civil
rights organizations, business leaders, academics, prosecutors and law
enforcement officials, Lockyer said.