Lawmakers do an end run on the public

Process matters. That’s why state legislators’ devious use of the budget process to slip through major policy changes — whether, in the end, they’re good or bad — is so despicable.

Last week, they rewrote laws pertaining to the recall process, dam-safety secrecy and gun regulations — all without public vetting.

Whatever the merits, these changes should have been heard in public committee hearings. Instead, they were slipped into budget trailer bills and revealed only days before passage. Trailers are supposed to be for ensuring state law conforms to California’s spending plan, not to slip things past the public.

State legislators thumbed their collective noses at voters, who have consistently said they want the public’s business conducted transparently.

Here are three outrageous sneak bills.

Recall rules: Democrats claim SB 96 will fix the recall process. It’s actually about maintaining the party’s supermajority control of the Legislature.

Democrats are trying to protect state Sen. Josh Newman, who last year won a highly competitive race in Southern California to provide his party with the two-thirds majority needed to pass tax increases without Republican support.

Now Newman faces a recall because he backed Gov. Jerry Brown’s transportation tax. Recall is an extreme reaction to one vote, but Democrats’ actions are more outrageous. They tinkered with the rules for qualifying a recall for the ballot so that the vote wouldn’t happen until next June’s primary, when greater turnout would make it easier to defeat.

Democrats are putting their thumbs on California’s election scales, which is just as abhorrent as Republicans doing so in other states.

Oroville Dam: In the wake of the near-catastrophe at Oroville Dam, the Brown administration stonewalled media requests for critical records that might show what was known ahead of time. Now, in another trailer bill, SB 92, at Brown’s request, the Legislature has called for dam operators to prepare emergency plans but has exempted those plans from public disclosure.

Some of the information might merit secrecy for security reasons. But the public should know what steps are being taken to protect its safety. A blanket records exemption with no public debate of the merits is ridiculous.

Gun possession: In AB 103, the state Legislature reinstates gun-possession restrictions recently relaxed by the Trump administration.

It’s right on the policy: People with outstanding felony arrest warrants should not be allowed to possess firearms. But state lawmakers are again wrong on the process: Gun rights advocates deserved a chance to be heard.

These changes should have been made through separate bills exposed to public hearings, not sneaked into budget trailer bills.

The hypocrisy is stunning: These are the same Democrats who have, rightfully, condemned congressional leaders for rewriting the nation’s health care laws in private.

Process matters, no matter who’s in charge.

Trailers are supposed to be for ensuring state law conforms to California’s spending plan, not to slip things past the public.