Legislative Maneuver : Mission College Bid for a Campus Gains

Every year during the final hours of the legislative session, bills and causes that were long presumed dead are resurrected through a variety of age-old legislative maneuvers.

One such cause that rose from the dead on Thursday was Mission College’s quest for a home.

For 11 years, Mission College has been seeking a permanent campus for its students, who have been attending classes in storefronts scattered around the northeast San Fernando Valley.

But the college’s efforts invariably have been stymied. The latest setback came in June, when Gov. George Deukmejian took $8.95 million earmarked for construction of a Mission College campus out of the state budget.

At that time it was widely thought that Mission College would have to wait until next year for any chance to get the money.

Last-Ditch Effort

But on Thursday, Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) made a somewhat unorthodox last-ditch attempt to get the $8.95 million.

Katz located an inactive bill written by state Sen. Paul B. Carpenter (D-Norwalk) and, in effect, asked to borrow it. When Carpenter agreed, Katz gutted the bill--which dealt with school district financing--and inserted wording that would give Mission College a chance to receive the money sooner.

On Thursday night, the Assembly, with no debate, gave preliminary approval to the changes Katz made in the bill. The maneuver required no vote--the amendments were approved automatically when no one protested.

The bill is scheduled to come before the Assembly for a vote today. If approved, it will go to the Senate for concurrence. Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys) said he will push for Senate passage.

‘You Never Know’

“Will this work? You never know when you try these late-session maneuvers,” he said. “Time will tell, but it couldn’t hurt. Mission College deserves to be funded.”

Katz said the bill might be scrutinized more closely today, but he predicted it will be passed before the Legislature ends its 1986 session this weekend.

“We went through the normal process,” Katz said, referring to the attempt to get the funding in the budget. “What we’re doing is using the legislative tools to benefit Mission College. It’s the last attempt this year to get something.”

Katz’s bill makes Mission College eligible for construction funds through Proposition 56, a $400-million higher-education bond act, which is on the November ballot. But before the college could qualify for the money, it would have to have blueprints, cost estimates and other construction information ready. The project would then have to be approved by the state Department of Finance.

Katz inserted those requirements in the bill in an attempt to secure the approval of the finance department and the governor.

When Deukmejian eliminated the college’s appropriation in June, finance department officials said the Administration believed Mission College was not ready to begin construction next year if it got the money.

The bill ensures that the college will get money only if it demonstrates that it is ready to break ground at its Sylmar site in 1987, Katz said.

Mission College President Lowell Erickson applauded the new effort to change his college’s orphan status.