Democrats Relent, Send Toxics Bill Back to Panel

Assembly Democrats on Friday backed off from their attempt to ram through the Legislature a bill to create a new agency to clean up toxic waste.

The Democratic bill, which Administration officials have warned would face certain veto by Gov. George Deukmejian, was quietly returned to committee--a move that raised the likelihood of negotiations with Republicans and the Administration.

The issue of how best to rid the state of toxic wastes has pitted Democrats against the Republican governor for months. He has accused them repeatedly of “obstructionist” tactics, but they counter that his program isn’t strong enough.

The Democratic bill, which runs counter to Deukmejian’s proposal to establish a new toxics department, had been headed for a vote by the Democratic-dominated full Assembly next week.

The Democrats had second thoughts, however, and instead sent the measure back to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, which had approved it only a day before on a party-line vote with Republicans dissenting.

Assembly Democratic Floor Leader Mike Roos of Los Angeles said that the change in plans is intended to deal with a procedural technicality raised by Assembly Republican leader Pat Nolan of Glendale.

The move “leaves more time for parties to talk to each other,” Roos added. “When talk ensues, productivity usually results.”

The bill’s author, Sen. Art Torres (D-South Pasadena), said he considers the action “fortuitous,” because it offers the prospect of compromise.

He said he discussed the matter with Deukmejian’s chief of staff, Steven A. Merksamer, and told him, “There is an opportunity for further negotiations if the governor is open on it.”

Nolan described the decision to delay a vote on the Democratic plan as “conciliatory.”

“This stops the confrontation that the Democrats were provoking and it gives them more options,” he said.

Like Deukmejian’s proposal, the Torres plan would set up a new department of waste management to oversee much of the state’s toxic cleanup operations and a California waste commission to set policy and hear appeals of department decisions. But the two plans differ in several significant ways, including the method for resolving appeals and the powers given to the director.