Arnold vetoed $1.5 million for additional safety inspectors:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto to strike funding for 15 new workplace safety inspectors, a move the union representing the inspectors says is based on the same type of injury reporting that was exposed as faulty on the $1 billion Bay Bridge skyway project.
In his veto message that accompanied his June 28 signing of the $131.4 billion state budget, Schwarzenegger said he was deleting the $1.5 million for 15 new positions based on a report showing that “workplace injuries and fatalities in California are well below the national average.”

The decision to wipe out such a small sum was seen by labor representatives as a further erosion of an agency that has long been understaffed and overburdened.

The situation is especially grave, they say, in light of the boom in public works projects that would result from the November passage of four infrastructure bonds totaling $37 billion.

“There are going to be a lot more workplaces and risk of injury,” said Chris Voight, spokesman for the California Association of Professional Scientists. “With so few inspectors now, what’s the likelihood that this situation’s going to improve?” (Oakland Tribune 7/15/06)

Why are we vetoing $1.5 million when we will soon be building all these big road projects.  It just doesn’t seem to make any sense.