Middle ground found in debate on sales tax hike

The effort to put a half-cent sales tax increase on the Nov. 4 ballot in Los Angeles County has been like a movie action hero of late -- dodging bullets and hanging onto the edge of a cliff while people stomp on its fingers.

But it keeps surviving. On Wednesday, the effort got a boost when a key state bill, AB 2321 by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), was unanimously approved by the state Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill would give local officials the authority to put the sales tax proposal on the ballot.

But the effort has a ways to go. The full Senate must now vote on the bill, the Assembly must re-approve it and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must sign it -- and he has said he’s not signing any bills until the state budget mess is resolved.

But in the world of mass transit -- where there’s little money to build anything -- the sales tax is a very big deal. Proponents say it would raise $30 billion to $40 billion over its 30-year life span, money that would help pay for long-sought projects such as a Westside subway extension, a Gold Line extension into the San Gabriel Valley, a new Canoga Boulevard busway and other transit projects.

As recently as Monday, Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) had been publicly threatening to try to kill the bill if it wasn’t amended to let some money go toward a Green Line light-rail extension to Los Angeles International Airport. Also not happy was Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), who sought similar protections for the 710 Freeway tunnel he wants constructed under South Pasadena.

But amending the project list attached to the Sacramento bill also would have required changes to the list approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board. MTA officials said it’s too late to do that and, besides, they don’t want to give others a crack at challenging the list of projects.

Transportation officials also acknowledged that some big projects -- if they are to be completed -- would need more than the tax increase could provide. And that made legislators nervous, fearing that a future MTA board would raid money slated for the Green Line, for example, and dump it into the Westside subway extension.

The parties ended up reaching a compromise. Language was inserted into the bill that didn’t change the project list but made it clear that the Legislature expects projects such as the Green Line and the 710 tunnel to be built or started with sales tax money.

A second amendment requires the MTA board to inform the Legislature a year in advance if it intends to transfer money from one project to another. “It’s a safeguard,” Oropeza said. “This was all about getting some assurances in the law for the people who may vote for this in good faith.”

Feuer also was pleased. “I want to convey to your readers it’s a good day because the logjam has been broken here,” he said.

--

To some Los Angeles leaders, the Senate committee standoff played out against an intriguing political backdrop.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been among the chief backers of the sales tax effort. He’s chairman of the MTA board and the tax would help fund big projects in Los Angeles, including the start of the subway to the sea.

But the mayor had crossed swords with Cedillo and Oropeza in the past.

Cedillo and Villaraigosa were once friends going back many years until Villaraigosa explored running for the state Senate seat that Cedillo aspired to win in 2002. And Oropeza was one of the most vocal critics of Villaraigosa’s efforts to gain control over the Los Angeles Unified School District. Villaraigosa endorsed her opponent in the June 2006 state Senate primary and, two months later, Oropeza voted against his school bill.

On Tuesday, I asked Oropeza and Cedillo whether their issues with the mayor came into play. Nope, they said.

“We were just doing our duties, that our regions have a fair and equitable distribution” of sales tax revenues, Cedillo said.

As for Oropeza, she said, “Honest to goodness, I swear to you that for me it has nothing to do with anything but the issue itself. I have great respect for the mayor. There was no motivation I’m going to stick it to him or whatever.”

Politicians quarrel all the time, of course. So maybe there’s nothing to it. But when there’s potentially $40 billion on the table to deal with this region’s Achilles heel -- traffic -- I’m of the view that it’s good to know who isn’t in love with whom.

--

steve.hymon@latimes.com