More Schools, Less Smog

"I don't want to have everyone get the idea I'm a one-issue guy," said California's Democratic Governor Edmund ("Pat") Brown last week. "My administration has made a good record and I want the people to know about it."

The "one issue" was his abortive attempt to get an anti-capital-punishment bill through the legislature on the strength of the Chessman case (TIME, March 21). With that slapped down and well behind him, Pat Brown set about selling his record by pen, handshake and after-dinner speech. And he could tick off some notable legislative achievements designed to keep king-size California abreast of the times. Items:

P: A massive higher-education master plan to guide and control expansion of the 15 state-supported colleges and the University of California, whose combined enrollment (presently 200,000) has quadrupled in the past 15 years, is due to double in the next 15. Calling for a billion dollars' worth of building over the next ten years, the plan creates a 21-member state college board to control appointments, salaries, etc., in the state colleges, a separate system supplementing the eight-campus University of California.

P: A $300 million school-construction bond issue (on the ballot in next month's primary); a measure increasing from $8,000,000 to $10,000,000 the monthly limit for allocating state bond funds to local school districts for classroom construction.

P: A strong smog-control bill, aimed at smog-choked Los Angeles, requiring that cars in California be fitted with suppressors to cut down on engine hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. Progress will be slow: first the state has to approve a suppressor design; then motorists have to get the smog-stopper installed.

P: A balanced budget of $2.4 billion. The legislature raised Brown's recommended 5% salary increase for 115,000 state employees to 6%, but the Governor (who has an item veto on figures) knocked it back down to size by clipping $4,910,000 from the appropriation.

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