Assembly GOP Leaders Unveil Program for ’86

Assembly Republican leaders, seeking to show what they would do if they ran the Legislature, Tuesday unveiled a legislative program for 1986 that they hope will help win votes for the GOP at the polls.

Calling their list of 120 proposals an “Agenda of Opportunity,” the Republicans called for such traditional conservative goals as implementation of the death penalty, a freeze on welfare benefits, an income tax rebate (if the state can afford it) and tax credits for farmers and businesses.

“The programs offered in the 1986 agenda will spark interest in all Californians and generate support for Assembly Republicans up and down the state,” Assembly GOP Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale told a press conference.

Nolan said a similar platform in 1985 was a “resounding success” because 17% of the Republican proposals were enacted. The 1986 agenda includes the unsuccessful bills from last year along with more than 70 new proposals.

The GOP list touched on virtually every current issue and included such proposals as loaning senior citizens money to buy hearing aids and stopping the spread of AIDS by closing homosexual bathhouses.

As he did last year, Nolan called for a refund to income taxpayers of state money above the $1-billion reserve proposed by Gov. George Deukmejian. However, Deukmejian has already indicated that there will not be sufficient funds for an election-year tax rebate.

Several of the Republican proposals could deplete state resources even more. One plank in the platform calls for spending an additional $400 million to repair local roads. The money would be diverted from other unspecified spending programs.

Other proposals call for giving tax credits to financially ailing farmers and to businesses engaged in research. Nolan said he did not know how much these tax breaks would cost the state in lost revenue.

In contrast to the recent trend toward toughening hazardous waste laws, Nolan criticized “overzealous” regulation by the Deukmejian Administration of toxic ponds in farm areas. The best-known example is the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge in the San Joaquin Valley where contaminated irrigation runoff has caused birth defects in wild birds. The Republicans will sponsor legislation to relax enforcement of toxic pits in rural areas, Nolan said.

While the Assembly Republicans were not optimistic that many of their proposals will win approval in the Democratic-controlled house, Nolan said they hope that the GOP agenda will help win support to oust the Democrats from office.

“The political realignment is happening now,” he said. “The only question is when, in which election, it will be reflected in the Legislature.”