Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday appointed L.A. attorney and former Wilson administration official Dale Bonner as Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing.

Bonner, 41, a partner in the Century City law firm Epstein Becker & Green LLC, is replacing Sunne Wright McPeak, who left late last year to return to the private sector. Bonner was formerly the Commissioner of the state Department of Corporations under Gov. Pete Wilson and was responsible for overseeing regulation of corporate securities.

Assuming he is confirmed by the state Senate, Bonner would return to Sacramento as Schwarzenegger’s top cabinet official on business-related matters.

He would head the massive umbrella agency overseeing 13 separate state departments, including the California Department of Transportation, the Department of Corporations, the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Department of Managed Health Care, which oversees health maintenance organizations.

Two items at the top of Bonner’s agenda will be spearheading the rebuilding of California’s infrastructure using the $37 billion in bonds voters approved last November and implementing the state’s landmark greenhouse gas reduction law.

Bonner, a Republican, would earn a salary of $157,000.