The State - News from Nov. 4, 1988

State Controller Gray Davis’ office released a report saying that the elimination of Cal/OSHA did not result in the $8-million savings that Gov. George Deukmejian had projected for the fiscal year ended June 30. In fact, the report said, termination of the worker safety program had resulted in additional expenditures of $1.1 million in the 1987-88 fiscal year. The report said a combination of transition costs, lost revenues from penalties the state would have collected and reinstatement of one part of the worker safety program the governor had originally planned to dump caused the additional expenditures. A Deukmejian spokeswoman acknowledged that “some of the figures appear to be in the ballpark,” but asserted that “the transition figures appeared to be too high” and disagreed with the report’s conclusion. “From our standpoint this is just another Gray Davis election eve special,” said assistant press secretary Lois Wallace.