Critics blast governor's state board vacancies
Matthew T. Hall
San Diego Union Tribune
07/14/2010
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to leave vacant 15 percent of the seats on California’s boards and commissions is prompting debate about whether the panels have enough members to conduct prompt business and provide adequate oversight.
The governor’s staff said he wants to save money amid California’s budget crisis by making enough appointments to maintain meeting quorums but not full board membership.
Critics said the unfilled spots have caused meeting cancellations, delayed work and restricted the range of views that are supposed to represent the public’s full interests.
As a result of the vacancies:
• The Sex Offender Management Board lacked a chairman and couldn’t manage a quorum in March at the first meeting it held to discuss its review of how the state handled parole for convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III.
• The California Seismic Safety Commission, which oversees earthquake preparedness, has had seven vacancies for a year, forcing it to meet without an expert seismologist, soils engineer or representatives from city government and fire protection, among others.
• The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board has lacked a quorum twice since April. Last month, it had to postpone action on a stormwater management proposal that took San Diego city and other jurisdictions about 18 months and $2 million to develop.
California’s nine regional water-quality boards have 24 vacancies among their combined 81 positions, and 37 boards of varying sizes and responsibilities have at least three vacancies, leaving little room for members to miss meetings because of illness, business obligations or other reasons.
More than 44 percent of Schwarzenegger’s 2,215 appointed slots on 330 boards and commissions were vacant or occupied by people on expired terms at the end of June. That translates to 335 vacant positions and nearly 650 board members who stayed on after their terms ended.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said the governor, who will leave office in January because of term limits, tries to provide each panel with at least enough members to manage a quorum.
But, McLear said, Schwarzenegger’s preference is to appoint only the barest quorum for budget reasons. While many boards pay members a relatively low stipend of $100 for every meeting day plus expenses, “We’re really in a situation where every $100 counts,” McLear said.
Jo Linder-Crow, executive director of the California Psychological Association, said that is “an interesting argument to make and a good spin to put on it.”
Linder-Crow said her group’s board is funded through licensing fees paid by psychologists and generates surplus revenue that the state has borrowed for its general fund.
She is frustrated that the psychology board, which oversees the field’s licensing and disciplinary functions, has endured a year with only two psychologists instead of the five it should have to sufficiently represent consumers’ needs.
Psychologists deserve fair hearings when complaints are filed against them and empty seats compromise that, she said. With fewer members, the board no longer breaks up into small committees to discuss various issues in greater depth; Linder-Crow said that has led to rushed conversations about complex legal and ethical issues and slashed the public’s ability to weigh in.
At the psychology board’s meeting in May, she warned members that they were “only one case away from an event that would visibly highlight how these vacancies have crippled the board.”
In all, seven boards charged with consumer protection have at least two licensees, or experts, missing. They are the Board of Psychology, the Acupuncture Board, the Contractors’ State License Board, the Board of Occupational Therapy, the Board of Optometry, the Board of Pharmacy and the Physician Assistant Committee.
On June 30, the governor’s office told the California Seismic Safety Commission, which had operated for a year with seven vacancies, that interviews to fill all the spots would occur soon and appointments would follow this summer.
Executive officer Dick McCarthy and Chairman Mark Church said the additions would help.
“It has slowed us down a bit, but we still have managed to do fairly well and generate some key reports,” Church said. “We understand that the governor has had other priorities this past year and has some budget challenges before him.”
Critics mainly blame Schwarzenegger for the overall backlog, but also acknowledge that the appointment process, by its nature, can be difficult.
“This has been a pervasive issue throughout the governor’s tenure, although it’s not entirely his fault,” said Linda Sheehan, executive director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance.
Sheehan noted that volunteers can be scarce because many of these boards require time and preparation well beyond the $100 per diem pay scale, and because of strict conflict-of-interest guidelines that can prohibit otherwise qualified people from serving.
