page_title: Gray Davis
section_title: Second term
hierarchical_section_title: Gray Davis / Second term
caption_attribution_description: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Maksim. The original description page was here. All following user names refer to en.wikipedia. California's Republican Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) and outgoing Democratic Governor Gray Davis (right) listen as Republican Former U.S. President George W. Bush (center) speaks to firefighters on November 4, 2003 in El Cajon, California.
context_page_description: Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis Jr. is a retired American attorney and Democratic Party politician who served as the 37th Governor of California from 1999 to 2003. In 2003, only a few months into his second term, Davis was recalled and removed from office, the second state governor successfully recalled in U.S. history. Prior to serving as governor, Davis was chief of staff to Governor Jerry Brown, a California State Assemblyman, California State Controller and the 44th Lieutenant Governor of California. Davis holds a B.A. in history from Stanford University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his service as a Captain in the Vietnam War.
  During his time as governor, Davis made education his top priority and California spent eight billion dollars more than was required under Proposition 98 during his first term. Under Davis, California standardized test scores increased for five straight years. Davis signed the nation's first state law requiring automakers to limit auto emissions. Davis supported laws to ban assault weapons and is also credited with improving relations between California and Mexico.
context_section_description: Davis' second term, which lasted only ten months, was dominated by the recall election. He was widely criticized for responding to the budget crisis by reversing a decade of fee reductions on motor vehicles, a decision which his opponents repeatedly referenced.Not long after Davis signed law legalizing that the DMV grant drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants, Davis was challenged to a recall election.  Davis had also signed legislation requiring employers to pay for medical insurance for workers and legislation granting domestic partners many of the same rights as married people, and vetoed legislation that would have given undocumented immigrants free tuition for community college.  Some political observers saw these efforts as an attempt to reinforce support from Hispanics, labor union members and liberal Democrats. Ultimately, Davis did not have as much support from Hispanics and union members in the recall election as he did in his 2002 re-election.
  Davis was governor during the southern California fires of 2003, more commonly known as the Cedar Fire. Davis declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, San Diego County and Ventura County in October 2003 and deployed the National Guard to help with disaster relief. By mid-November, the greater South Los Angeles area had been declared a disaster area. This enabled federal funding to help repair flooding and weather-related damage, including the destruction of thousands of acres of vegetation. The Cedar Fire was the last major event during Davis' tenure as governor. Both Davis and governor-elect Schwarzenegger worked to help with disaster relief. Schwarzenegger went to Washington, D.C. and met Vice President Dick Cheney to lobby the federal government for more disaster relief funds.
caption: Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, President George W. Bush and Governor Gray Davis speak to firefighters on November 4, 2003.
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