CA RFRA

[Brownstein, Alan]

This may  be a good example why it is hard to figure out why laws get passed or do not get passed. I was heavily involved in trying to get RFRA enacted in CA. I would not suggest as Marci does that the CA RFRA "never made it anywhere" since it passed both houses of the legislature -- only to be vetoed by Governor Pete Wilson.
 
As to the reasons why Wilson vetoed the bill, I had never heard that civil rights issues or child justice issues were particularly important reasons for Wilson's decision. If Marci or Marc have more information on what led to Wilson's veto, I would be really interested in hearing about it since I spent so much time working on the bill and was dismayed when the veto came down.
 
For whatever my recollection is worth (this was over ten years ago), I think the backers of the bill thought that concerns about zoning were part of the problem (the League of Cities and other groups strongly opposed RFRA)  but that the major reason for the veto was opposition by the Department of Corrections and the Correctional Officers.
 
Given the record of various votes on various versions of RFRA bills in CA (many legislators voted for a broad RFRA bill requiring strict scrutiny review one year , but against a RFRA bill limited to land use that required intermediate level scrutiny a year or two later), I think it would hard to argue that policy, as opposed to politics, had anything to do with the results in this state.
 
Alan Brownstein
 

 
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From: religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu on behalf of Marc Stern
Sent: Fri 1/4/2008 9:46 AM
To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics
Subject: RE: Need an expert on religion in custody cases


I too participated in the debates over California's RFRA. As  I recall, the issue which killed the RFRA bill was civil rights, especially as it affected gays..Zoning was also an important objection.
Marc Stern

________________________________

From: religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Hamilton02 at aol.com
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 12:34 PM
To: religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu
Subject: Re: Need an expert on religion in custody cases


fyi-- One of the primary reasons that the CA RFRA never made it anywhere was opposition from the child justice system in CA.  There was concern that it would tip the scales toward the religious parent and create (or cause litigation over) religious defenses involving support issues.
 
Marci
 
 
Marci A. Hamilton
Visiting Professor of Public Affairs
Woodrow Wilson School
Kathleen and Martin Crane Senior Research Fellow
Program in Law and Public Affairs
Princeton University



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