Lawmakers OK School, Water Bonds : Governor Dealt Blow on Toxics Cleanup Issue

The Legislature voted Friday to place $1.3 billion in education and clean water bonds on the Nov. 4 ballot but--in a heated election-year battle--rejected a toxics cleanup bond issue sought by Gov. George Deukmejian.

Handing the Republican governor yet another defeat on the toxics issue, Assembly Democrats refused to approve a $150-million hazardous waste cleanup bonds bill they feared would help Deukmejian in his reelection campaign.

Voters will have the opportunity at the general election to decide four bond measures, which Deukmejian said he will sign: $800 million to build school classrooms, $400 million to construct college facilities, $500 million to build prisons and $100 million to protect drinking water. The water and education measures were approved Friday, while the prisons measure won enactment Thursday.

Alternate Sources

The $1.8 billion total--the largest amount ever placed before the voters in a single election--reflected the Legislature’s willingness to look for alternate sources of money in the face of a constitutional limit on state spending that is expected to take effect next year.

Attempts to win approval of five other measures totaling $500 million, including the governor’s toxics cleanup proposal, disintegrated when Assembly Republicans refused to go along with a deal that would have put all five on the ballot.

Democrats believed that Deukmejian wanted the toxics bond issue to bolster his record on the cleanup of hazardous wastes and to counter a “get-tough-on-toxics” initiative already on the Nov. 4 ballot. The initiative was sponsored by environmentalists and by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Deukmejian’s Democratic gubernatorial opponent, who has attempted to make the governor’s toxics record a major issue.

Generated Interest

“It has become very clear that the only weakness that is clearly at this moment visible in (Deukmejian’s) operation in his first three years and seven months of his governorship has been his poor handling of the toxics issue,” said Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco). “That fact and that fact alone apparently generated greater interest from the Administration in terms of energy behind their toxic proposal for the 1986 ballot.”

Attempting to use Deukmejian’s interest in the measure to their advantage, Democrats agreed to put it on the ballot if Republicans would support bond issues to build libraries, buy school buses, preserve coastal property and clean up Mexican sewage that spills across the border in San Diego and Imperial counties.

Deukmejian and the Senate were willing to go along with the deal, legislative leaders from both parties said. However, Assembly Republicans rejected spending proposals they perceived as beneficial to Democratic lawmakers who, they noted, are also up for reelection.

“We’re not going to mortgage our children so they can have their pet projects,” said Assembly GOP Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale. “The deal was totally unacceptable from the start.”

The Assembly rejected the toxics bond issue by a vote of 34 to 11, with 54 votes needed for passage. The lower house then recessed for a monthlong summer vacation. The Senate did so an hour earlier.

Deukmejian, who has twice been unable to win approval of his plans to reorganize the state’s hazardous waste program, played down the defeat of the toxics bond measure and praised the Legislature for approving the other four ballot measures.

“Although the Legislature had a chance to bat five for five for the people of California, four for five is not a bad batting average,” Deukmejian said in a statement. “However, I am disappointed that the Legislature did not give the voters the chance to approve a comprehensive, $150-million toxic waste control bond issue.”

Another Chance

Brown left open the possibility of negotiating a new deal when the lawmakers return Aug. 11 to approve the toxics bond issue and the other four measures that were rejected.

However, the technical deadline for placing measures on the ballot elapsed Friday. If additional ballot proposals were adopted next month, it would cost an additional $1.5 million to print supplemental ballot pamphlets, which would not be delivered to voters until mid-October, said the office of Secretary of State March Fong Eu.

One measure rejected by the Assembly that was not included in the package deal was a measure by Assemblyman Gray Davis (D-Los Angeles) that would have placed $100 million on the ballot for construction of housing for senior citizens. It fell one vote short when Davis, a candidate for state controller, traveled to Los Angeles, believing that the measure would not come up for a vote.

Needy Districts

The $800-million school bond measure by Assemblywoman Teresa P. Hughes (D-Los Angeles would provide up to $360 million to remodel existing school buildings, with the remainder going for the construction of new buildings. A seven-member allocation board would distribute the funds to the most needy districts.

The school bond issue would be only a partial solution to California’s critical shortage of classroom space.

The state Department of Education estimates that enrollment in kindergarten through eighth grade will increase by more than half a million pupils by 1990, requiring more than 26,000 new classrooms. In Los Angeles, enrollment is expected to jump by more than 70,000 by 1990.

A year ago, Deukmejian vetoed a major school construction bill, in part, because he said there was inadequate information to support legislators’ claims that the state needed $5 billion for new school construction. After conducting a survey, the governor said the need was about $4 billion, and he pledged to support two bond issues: The one targeted for the November ballot and a second $800-million measure in November, 1988.

Current Budget

The $400-million measure for higher education by Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) would provide money for construction, remodeling and equipment for the University of California, California State University system and the community colleges during the next two years. Of the total, $240 million is allocated in the current budget and includes $86 million for the University of California, $78.4 million for the state university system and $41.6 million for community colleges.

The $500-million prison measure, carried by Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove), would provide $450 million for the construction of prisons for adults and $50 million to build youth correctional facilities. The money would be allocated by legislation to be enacted later, but the Administration is proposing to spend $130 million on a prison in downtown Los Angeles.

Money for Water

The $100-million measure to protect drinking water by Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) would provide local water districts with $75 million in loans and $25 million in grants to improve water treatment and filtering systems. The districts would receive money under a ranking set by the state Department of Health Services.

Before this year, the largest amount of bonds placed on the ballot was in 1960, when voters approved $1.75 billion to build the California Water Project.

A number of lawmakers said the Legislature has been increasingly looking to bond measures to help finance projects without exceeding the state limit on spending imposed by Proposition 4 in 1979. Bonds are not covered by the limit.

“I think you’re going to see it more and more,” O’Connell said.