Don Perata - California State Senate

California State Senate

Perata is a staunch advocate of gun control. In 1999, Perata successfully drove legislation that updated the California "assault weapons" ban by adding a ban of generically described semi-automatic firearms. Perata obtained a concealed weapons permit to legally carry a loaded handgun in public. He claimed this was necessary for self-defense due to threats on his life and the well-being of his family from some individual opponents of his pro-gun control legislative activity.

Perata has been an advocate for the rights of the elderly, the mentally ill, and the disabled. He supported legislation to create a discount drug program and legislation to require HMOs to pay for mental health treatment. Perata supported legislation that secured $27 million annually for ovarian and prostate cancer and legislation that increase access to breast cancer screening for low-income women. He has authored legislation requiring California utilities companies to contract for cleaner energy sources and supported tougher penalties on oil refinery emissions.

In early 2005, Perata introduced a bill to repair California's flagging infrastructure including highway improvements, housing reform and levee repairs. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger began to speak out in favor of improving state infrastructure after Schawarzenegger's November 2005 special election ballot initiatives were defeated. While Schwarzenegger's plan included fixing transportation problems, his infrastructure plan was drastically more costly and advocated more prisons and did not address the housing problem.

In a rare occurrence for Sacramento politicians, in early 2006 Perata and Schwarzenegger began to work together to piece together a bipartisan infrastructure plan that both sides of the legislature could embrace. They were successful and five bond measures were approved by California voters on the November 2006 ballot. These measures are aimed at improving roads, mass transit, affordable housing, levee repair, and upgrading educational facilities.

In July 2007, during state budget negotiations, Perata ordered the Senate to remain in session for 19 hours in an attempt to reach an agreement on the budget. California requires two-thirds of both legislative houses and the governor's signature to pass a budget. Perata needed two Republican votes in the State Senate to pass the budget and the lock down aimed to get those two Republican votes. The California State Senate Republicans presented a revised budget that aimed to reduce state spending and included tax credits to some Fortune 500 corporations, cuts to transportation and welfare, and eliminating cost-of-living pay raises to the blind, elderly, and disabled.

The state budget had already gained the required two-thirds majority in the California Assembly and the support of Governor Schwarzenegger. Perata and the Senate Democrats rejected the Senate Republican budget proposal and the Republicans held out for weeks into August, preventing many state legislators from returning home for their summer recess, before the budget was passed. Perata retaliated against Republican Jeff Denham for not voting for the budget by stripping Denham of committee assignments and contributing to the recall effort against Denham.

Just after he left the State Senate at the close of 2008, Perata made some retrospective comments on his years in the legislature. He said the state's term limits law had created a group of lawmakers who are well-intentioned but lack the institutional knowledge to deal with the state's overwhelming problems effectively. He had recently witnessed, he said, lawmakers who had failed to recognize the severity of the financial crisis and so were unable to respond to it; they lacked the grounding that comes with years of learning how to govern the state.

Perata's concluded about the Capitol: "There is no center. I'm not talking about political center. There is no action center, or moral center, or anything else left in Sacramento."

In an April interview, Perata reflected on the value of the legislation passed by the State Legislature under his leadership as President pro tempore of the California State Senate: "Almost everything I wanted to do in Sacramento that was beneficial to the state—whether it was on gun control or infant mortality—was twice as beneficial to my district. In many instances, my role was to get it done; I didn't have the need to take or get the credit, just results."