Judge drops contempt proceedings against governor

By: STEVE LAWRENCE - Associated Press | Thursday, July 21, 2005 6:22 PM PDT ∞

SACRAMENTO -- A Sacramento judge dropped contempt proceedings Thursday against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying his reissuing of regulations delaying tougher nurse staffing standards in hospitals was not a willful attempt to violate a court order.

In a written order, Judge Judy Hersher said she accepted statements from the governor's attorneys that administration officials believed that reissuing the regulations would not violate an injunction knocking down the regulations.

"Disobedience alone ... is not enough; such disobedience must be willful...," Hersher said. "The court is confident that respondents' misperceptions have now been corrected and the readoption of the emergency regulation will not resurface as an issue in the future."

On Tuesday, Hersher had scheduled an Aug. 17 hearing to determine if Schwarzenegger and two of his top aides should be held in contempt for reissuing the regulations, which suspended until 2008 a requirement that hospitals have at least one nurse for every five patients, instead of one nurse for every six patients, in general medical units.

The regulations, initially issued last November, also gave hospitals flexibility to override temporarily nurse staffing requirements when emergency rooms are hit with sudden, unexpected surges of patients.

Hospitals argued that a nursing shortage prevented them from meeting the staffing requirements, which were required by a 1999 law. But said Charles Idelson, a spokesman for the California Nurses Association, said "probably a majority" of hospitals have been able to comply with the law.

The nurses association, which has been one of Schwarzenegger's most persistent critics and has demonstrated at many of his appearances, challenged the regulations in court. Hersher issued a preliminary injunction in March and then a permanent injunction earlier this month blocking 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."

She said Hersher's written decision Thursday "goes along with what we been saying all along -- the governor's actions were legally solid."

Idelson characterized Hersher's decision as a "temporary reprieve for an administration that has shown contempt for the courts." He said the association would be monitoring hospitals "very closely" to make sure they meet the staffing requirements.

Hersher said the reissuing of the regulations did violate her order but, after reviewing written and oral arguments, decided it did not constitute a willful violation. She again blocked implementation of the regulations and warned that if the administration attempted to delay the staffing standards again it would "not be viewed in the same light."

The administration says it plans to ask an appeals court to lift the injunction.