gov groper faces contempt hearing

GO, CALIFORNIA NURSES!! who's kicking whose butt now?

Schwarzenegger faces contempt hearing in nurse staffing dispute
Tuesday July 19, 2005

By STEVE LAWRENCE
Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO (AP) A Sacramento judge on Tuesday scheduled an August hearing to determine if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and two aides should be held in contempt of court for repeated attempts to suspend a law requiring hospitals to hire more nurses.

Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer Hersher set the Aug. 17 hearing after the administration reissued emergency regulations blocking new nurse staffing requirements despite a permanent injunction barring the regulations.

A spokeswoman for the state Health and Human Services Agency, Sabrina Demayo Lockhart, said the regulations were reissued for technical reasons to "preserve appeal rights.''

"We understand that the judge's ruling stands,'' she said. ``We are not in any way trying to violate her order. We've been very clear that we wanted to appeal her ruling.''

But Charles Idelson, a spokesman for the California Nurses Association, said the department had no authority to reissue the regulations.

"There is nothing in the law that anyone is aware of that says they have the authority to ignore a court order on the basis of their desire to appeal...,'' he said. ``He (Schwarzenegger) is sending a signal to hospitals that don't like the law that they can continue to violate it.''
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The administration announced that it would appeal those orders but hasn't filed the appeal yet.