Gold Stars Stall in Legislature
June 28, 2007
SACRAMENTO - A move to give relatives of those who have died in
military service the chance to buy a special “gold star” license
plate has stalled in the Legislature, sending supporters scrambling
to find a way to crack the impasse.
State Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, says he’s appealing to Senate
Leader Don Perata, D-Oakland, to waive Senate rules and let the bill
move, at the same time he’s working with the administration of Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger to try get it done without legislation.
Denham, who was a crew chief on a C-5 Galaxy cargo jet in Saudi
Arabia during the first Gulf War, sponsored the bill after being
approached by parents Michael Anderson of Modesto and Kevin Graves of the Delta’s Discovery Bay. Both have lost sons in Iraq.
California has lost 372 service members in Iraq, according to data
from the Department of Defense. Sixteen have died in San Joaquin
County or the Mother Lode. An additional 2,672 Californians have been wounded.
The symbol of the Gold Star dates from World War I, when families who had a member serving in the armed forces during wartime flew a little flag with a blue star in their windows. But if their soldier, sailor
or Marine had died, that blue star was replaced with a gold one.
The license plate would not just be for Iraq War veterans: Any
relative of a service member who died in action would be eligible.
Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Connecticut, and Virginia already have Gold Star plates, and seven other states are debating the issue.
Denham says he hopes Perata will help him get a fair hearing for the
legislation; It never received one during the regular committee
process this spring. A companion bill in the Assembly flew through
two committees without a “no” vote before getting hijacked earlier
this month; the bill now deals with petroleum products.
“It should be a very simple issue,” Denham said. “This should receive
a hearing.”
A spokeswoman for Perata said he isn’t likely to change the rules for
Denham and said he should work through the administrative process.
Denham may not have helped matters by suggesting that staffers are to blame.
“It’s the Democrat staff on the Transportation Committee who has this bottled up,” he said. “It’s one of those unusual cases where you’ve got staff trying to interject their ideas.”
Special license plates in California have become controversial since
the Legislature passed a slew of them in the late 1990s. A court case
and unwritten legislative rules has made it nearly impossible to
convince lawmakers to create a new plate.
Last year the Legislature punted this job to the Department of Motor
Vehicles. But the rules set up under this new system require
supporters to find at least 7,500 drivers willing to pay for the
special plate - but anyone, even drivers with no lost relatives,
could buy the plate if they wanted.
This is the administrative route Denham is tentatively pursuing,
although it isn’t his preferred option. He had the bill written to
bypass this process and instead add Gold Star to a select list
of “special recognition” plates, such as those for Medal of Honor
winners, Purple Heart awardees and former prisoners of war.
But staffers in both the Senate Transportation Committee and Perata’s office say that isn’t clear from the bill’s text.
Anderson says he’s surprised there’s been such resistance to passing
what he sees is a very simple, very worthy proposal.
“It’s disturbing that our state lawmakers will not honor our fallen
heroes or those left behind,” Anderson said. “It’s just ludicrous.”
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