PENDING LEGISLATION OF 1919

The Club meeting of March 20, 1919, was set aside for reports of sections and committees which had been examining the bills introduced in the Legislature of 1919. The bills affecting the public interest were referred to the various sections and committees organized by the Club, and after an examination of the measures the following expressed a desire to report their conclusions to the Club:

Committee on Education:

Archibald B. Anderson, Chairman, and Messrs. E. O. Allen, H. U. Brandenstein, John H. Hopps, James A. Johnston, Dr. Samuel Langer, Joseph O'Connor, Rev. Clarence Reed, J. D. Roantree, Russell I. Wisler, E. J. Dupuy, G. McM. Ross, Josiah Sibley, W. V. Stafford, Chas. E. Snook, James W. Mullen, M. J. Jacobs.

Committee on Election Laws:

William H. Jordan, Chairman; Messrs. C. E. Grunsky, C. M. Belshaw, A. E. Boynton, Hon. Lester G. Burnett, Isidor Jacobs, F. V. Keesling, Meyer Lissner, W. J. Locke, Milton T. U'Ren, J. H. Zemansky.

Committee on Irrigation:

C. E. Grunsky, Chairman; Messrs. F. V. Cornish, Frank Adams, W. A. Beard, A. E. Chandler, Melville Dozier, Dr. Samuel Fortier, S. T. Harding, Dr. Norman D. Kelley, W. F. McClure, Prof. W. E. Packard, Prof. Chas. F. Shaw, Fred H. Tibbetts, Walter W. Weir, R. P. Teele, Thos. H. Means, W. L. Huber.

Section on Judiciary:

Edward Hohfeld, Chairman; Messrs. A. E. Bolton, M. E. Harrison, O. K. McMurray, R. L. McWilliams, Albert A. Rosenshine, Geo. A. Sturtevant, E. F. Treadwell, Hon. Lester G. Burnett.

Section on Municipal Government.

Frank D. Stringham, Chairman; Messrs. Paul Eliel, B. D. M. Greene, Isidor Jacobs, H. C. Symonds, Grover O'Connor.

Section on Public Health:

Dr. Wm. Ophüls, Vice-Chairman; Drs. W. W. Boardman, Edw. F. Glaser, P. H. Pierson, R. L. Rigdon, R. Knight Smith, Jas. F. Smith, Wm. R. Dorr and Prof. M. E. Jaffa.

Committee on Red Plague:

C. M. Wollenberg, Chairman; Messrs. Wm. S. Wollner, Adolph Judell, Rev. Martin A. Meyer.

On the reports presented by the sections and committees the members present and voting at the mecting expressed themselves as follows on a viva voce vote:

Education:

For approval of the action of the San Francisco Board of Education in establishing a part time vocational school for the employees of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation and such other persons as desire to attend it.

For Senate Constitutional Amendment 14 and Assembly Constitutional Amendments 25 and 27, making the State Superintendent of Public Instruction appointive. (One member voting no.)

For an increase of the elementary school allotment from $15 to $17.50 per pupil, and that for teachers from $550 to $600.

Election Laws:

For Senate Bill 616, permitting ballots to be counted at a central place. For a strengthening of the Purity of Elections Act.

Judiciary:

For Senate Bill 369, simplifying the provisions regarding record on appeal.

For the committee report endorsing a three years' course for applicants for admission to the bar, establishment of a board of bar examiners, and uniform acts for partnership, bill of lading, sales of personal property and transfers of corporate stock.

Public Health:

For the pure food bills, separation of deaf and blind, establishment of a bureau of child welfare, establishment of a psychopathic hospital, increase of appropriation for control of venereal disease.

Red Plague:

For establishment of a farm for delinquent women.

On the other measures the committees did not ask a vote or the meeting was divided in opinion. Not all members voted.

Meeting of March 20, 1919

The Club meeting of March 20, 1919, was held at the Hotel St. Francis. At the close of the recess following the business meeting. President Albert E. Boynton called the meeting to order with the following:

Remarks by President Boynton

THE PRESIDENT: The members of the Club are largely indebted to Vice-President Grunsky for having prepared the programme for this evening. We are to discuss some seven or eight pending legislative matters-possibly more.

It has been the policy of the Club for a number of years to prepare, through its sections, bills for submission to the Legislature. These bills as a rule are carefully drafted after much discussion and earnest consideration. They do not receive at the hands of the Legislature the attention to which they are entitled. They are introduced, ordered printed, and referred to committee, and there they can usually be found peacefully sleeping when the Legislature adjourns. (Laughter.)

Practically all of the measures prepared by the Club this year are still in committee, and they will remain there unless energetic steps. are taken to put life into them. My judgment, based on some little experience, is that this Club, the most important civic organization in the State, should have one or more representatives at Sacramento during the entire legislative session. Private interests are always represented. What better work could this Club do than undertake to guard and protect, so far as possible, the public interest? (Applause.)

The first number on the programme is from the Committee on Education. Mr. Anderson will report on the vocational school of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation and on the five bills sponsored by the state school authorities.

Report of the Committee on Education

STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN ANDERSON

MR. ANDERSON: The Committee on Education was reorganized during the month of January of the present year and held its first meeting on February 7. The meeting took the form of an informal conference, State Superintendent Will C. Wood and Dr. Edwin R. Snyder, State Commissioner of Vocational Education, participating.

In a letter to the chairman, Superintendent Wood outlined five bills as the measures of outstanding importance in all the mass of

educational legislation now pending at Sacramento. They are as follows:

1. Bills providing for more adequate funds for the elementary schools.

2. The Jones-Hughes measure amending the compulsory education law.

3. The Jones-Hughes measure relating to compulsory part time courses for all minors under eighteen years and for non-English speaking foreigners under the age of twenty-one years. 4. Constitutional amendment making the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction appointive.

5. A constitutional amendment providing for a county unit of school administration.

Following a spirited initial meeting with Superintendent Wood and Dr. Snyder, the committee has continued its work, holding weekly meetings at which these five measures have formed the chief basis of discussion. This report to the Club concerns itself with the findings of the committee on those five vital measures, with additional findings on several less important measures which had interest. for individual members of the committee, together with a discussion. of the plan for vocational education which the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation is establishing in conjunction with the San Francisco Board of Education.

We shall first take up the bills of less importance dealing with legislation in which individuals of the committee were interested.

They are (a) bills increasing the number of state supervisors, (b) a bill to establish schools in California state prisons, (c) and a bill to establish a mining research laboratory at the University of California.

(a) Bills establishing more state supervisors.

The bills under this heading are Senate Bills 166, 313, 520 and Assembly Bills 467, 822, 823 and 891. These bills establish the following new state supervisors: (1) Supervisor of trade and industrial education, (2) supervisor of drawing and art, (3) supervisor of buildings and sanitation, (4) supervisor of pre-vocational and agricultural education, (5) supervisor of physical education, (6) supervisor of school attendance.