European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 21, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Where has All the glitter gone i if r a Iff up a Joe a r r if of by Harold v. Streeter a staff writer the 12 million vehicles on Cali fornia s 163,700 Miles of roads and streets will Roll up 100 billion Miles this year the equivalent of More than 200, 000 round trips to the  4.6 million youngsters who crowded into California s elementary and High schools this year exceeded All the men women and children in each of 37 of the 50 United states. Coy. Ronald Reagan rides High in Western tradition \ ruling Over a state whose myriad problems include Eye burning smog Over its cities. The $904 million it will Cost Californi Athis year for the 1,166,000 people on social welfare is almost six times the entire budget for the state of Rhode Island. A Siren song brought about All this come to California. Soak up its Sun Shine. Loll on its beaches. Live among its oranges. Stand in the Shadow of giant Sequoias that were fair sized tree when Jesus Christ walked the roads of Palestine. The people Are coming. Counting those arriving against those leaving the aver age increase is better than 27,000 month. Add the excess of those born Over those who die and there is another19,000 a month. That Means in excess of 500,000 a year More than 60 every hour of the Day. More than 19,700,000 already Are Here. The Sunshine is Here too. But i los Angeles county Industry alone has spent More than $200 million in recent years to help people try to see it through the smog. The beaches there Are 167 Miles of them owned by the state. But in sum Mer Southern California s 59 Miles of state beaches Are so swarmed that for every person using them two Are continued on Page is it full by Bill stall a staff writer proclaimed in bold Golden letter High Over Abraham Lincoln s por trait and the elevated speaker s Rostrum of the California Assembly in Sacra mento is the latin sentence Legisla Torum est justas Leges  translation it is the duty of Legisla tors to make just  but far More than that believes As Sembly speaker Jesse m. Unruh the 20th Century legislature should be unenlightened vigorous inventive and effective lawmaking  44-year-old Unruh is California s most potent legislator and its most powerful Democrat in the Wake oblast fall s Republican election victories which placed Ronald Reagan in the governor s chair. Elsewhere whenever he has the Hance Unruh is one of the nation s most energetic and out spoken advocates of a Strong state government and particularly an Independent legislature freeform outside pressures and with the prestige and Power similar to those of the nation s restless Early years. For decades too Many legislative Halls have been Power vacuums Unruh feels echoing and rubber stamping the demands of special interest groups. Democrat Unruh visibility is greatest safeguard against corruption now Unruh see s the pendulum begin Ning to swing Back with California in the forefront. It s very slow said Unruh Dur ing an interview in his office part of an expansive Complex which houses the speaker s staff. His own office is decorated with modern paintings and me mentors of Unruh s travels and his association with the Kennedy family. Seldom does Unruh preside Over the Assembly and he normally Speaks in eloquent rising and falling tones on Lyon the major issues or a pet Bill. The prime resistances to Strong state Legislatures comes from the business Community Unruh contended not so much out of fear of the legislature but because businessmen know what their situation is now and they Don t know what it would  opposition comes from the vast Federal bureaucracy Unruh further believes citing a fruitless attempt to get a Federal study Grant for legislative Lead ers. Despite All this Unruh said state shave done More in the past three years than in the previous half Century to equip their governments with the tools needed to act  has begun. But there is a Long Way to go Unruh  has come far. All 120 legis lators80 in the Assembly and 40 in the Senate have offices both in the capital and in their Home districts. Most Haven administrative assistant. Committees and their chairmen have staff consultants for research and the legislative Branch has its own Well paid fiscal and Legal experts. Last fall Calico Means overwhelmingly approved a constitutional Amend ment making the legislators Post Virtu ally a Fiill time Job. The measure established annual general sessions with no thursday september 21, 1967 the stars and stripes limit on length or subject matter. Legislators salaries went from $6,000 to $16, 000 a year and they were covered by code of ethics. Counting his $25 a Day expense allow Ance the California legislator earned More than $21,000 for the record 217-Day-Long 1967 regular session. It s too Early for the amendment to produce dramatic changes Unruh said. But one effect has been to ease the crush of Bills including critical financial measures. A major criticism of the National committee for economic development in a recent report was that legislative seats were unattractive to qualified candidates and legislators too often Sereno entities unknown to Many of their constituents. Unruh concurred in the need for legislators to be in Public View. Visibility is the greatest safeguard against corruption. The greatest guarantee of performance he said. The less visibility you have the More schlock in ept legislators you , he said is one argument for moving to a one House or unicameral legislature such As Nebraska has. If some of the smaller states had smaller unicameral legislature they could give it the tools to work efficiently he said. Although Unruh favors a unicameral legislature he believes it will be in the Distant future if Ever that Californi makes that change. Unruh agrees to an extent with the committee for economic development report that legislators too often meddle in trivial subjects which could hotter be left to local  he noted the legislature is sup posed to be reflective of the entire  the population. If we Don to who will i Don t think we can Ever have legislature that is concerned Only with olympian  pane 11