Copyright 2005, Sacramento Bee

State-supported museum to focus on women in California history. Some question exemption from open records laws.

(Sacramento Bee 3/16/05) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Tuesday to create a new California history and women's museum in downtown Sacramento, a project that began in controversy when some said his celebrity wife pushed the idea too forcefully.

"This museum will showcase California's extraordinary archives, its rich and unique history and it will focus our attentions on the stories and the struggles and the accomplishments and triumphs of our state's most remarkable women," Schwarzenegger said at a bill-signing ceremony in his office.

With his wife, Maria Shriver, and about two dozen legislators at his side, Schwarzenegger said the legislation would never have been possible without her.

AB 42 changes the mission of the existing California History Museum, which is toured by thousands of schoolchildren each year but little known to the general public. Its new name is the California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts.

Shriver, who was asked by board leaders to help enliven the museum, touched off a controversy last fall when several members opposed her idea for a museum celebrating just women. Such a museum would be exclusionary, her critics said, and they didn't want to compromise the facility's original purpose of showcasing California archives and artifacts.

The board ultimately agreed to have the new museum feature the archives and exhibits honoring California women.

"Being her husband," Schwarzenegger said, "I can tell you firsthand the amount of work that went into this project."

Shriver, who said consistently that she was only offering suggestions and that it was up to the museum board to determine its future, is expected to spearhead a $10 million private fund-raising drive.

The legislation encourages the museum board to hold public meetings, but doesn't require it. The measure explicitly states that the board is private, volunteer and nonprofit, which backers have said shouldn't be subject to the state's open meetings laws.

Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit public interest organization involved in freedom of speech and government access issues, disagreed.

The museum was built with public bond money, it gets rent-free space in a state building, and its security and maintenance costs are paid by the state.

"Somebody will contest that and discover, I think, that they're covered by the (open meetings) act," Scheer said.

Written by the Republican governor's Democratic rivals, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, AB 42 had strong bipartisan support, and the crowd of legislators assembled in Schwarzenegger's office provided comic relief inside a Capitol usually beset by partisan bickering.

After Schwarzenegger walked into the room and gave his wife a kiss on the lips, Núñez, D-Los Angeles, stuck out his cheek and asked whether he'd get a kiss, too. The room erupted in laughter when Schwarzenegger put his lips on Núñez's cheek. "I'm never going to hear the end of it," the governor joked later.

"You got that right," shot back Perata, D-Oakland.

By Gary Delsohn