Legislators See Roads, Transit as No. 1 Priority

Ask the members of the Orange County legislative delegation what’s on their minds, and the answer comes back like a line from a Greek chorus: transportation.

Since the new two-year session of the Legislature began Dec. 1, Orange County’s representatives in the Assembly and state Senate have been putting together agendas that will carry them well into 1987. And though transportation is not the only subject they’re concerned about, it seems to be high on almost everyone’s list.

“It doesn’t take much to get out and see what a mess we have down here,” said Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress). She and others see transportation as a major planning issue in Orange County.

“We still have room to grow. If we are going to continue in a planned, sensible manner . .we need to have money available for planning and road construction.”

Proposed Amendments

Allen already has introduced a constitutional amendment that would ensure that money collected from gasoline sales taxes cannot be diverted and used for anything other than transportation projects.

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) has vowed to introduce an even more far-reaching constitutional amendment, affecting all state money collected from gasoline taxes, as well as sales taxes on oil, auto parts and new cars, and all vehicle registration and license fees.

Under Ferguson’s proposal, all money collected from those sources would have to be spent on highways, bridges, tunnels, streets and mass-transit projects.

The amendment he envisions, Ferguson said, would have a doubly beneficial effect. In addition to funneling more money into transportation projects, it would remove those funds from the voter-imposed spending limits of the 1979 Gann Initiative.

If passed by the Legislature, an amendment still would have to be approved by the voters before taking effect.

Different Approach

Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) also has made transportation a top priority, but is taking a different tack in addressing the problem.

She has introduced a measure, similar to one that was killed earlier this year, to allow the state Department of Transportation to contract with private engineers, surveyors and landscape architects in the planning and construction of road and transit projects.

The idea, supported by Caltrans officials but opposed by unions representing the giant department’s employees, is intended to cut both costs and lead time for road projects.

A similar measure fell one vote short of Senate passage earlier this year, in the midst of a bitter clash between Gov. George Deukmejian and Democratic legislators over a proposal to transfer $300 million in reserves out of the state employees pension fund.

Although he has no specific legislation in mind yet, Assemblyman Richard E. Longshore (R-Santa Ana) said transportation is among his top priorities, too. Longshore, Orange County’s newest legislator, said he generally supports the Assembly Republican Caucus position calling for a constitutional amendment to earmark funds for transportation.

Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach) is sticking with a different approach to solving the county’s traffic nightmares-- one that has not met with much acceptance so far. Refusing to accept defeat on a proposal he has championed for the last two years, Frizzelle said he will introduce a new bill that would allow private corporations to build and operate toll roads.

The measure, Frizzelle said, would impose strict qualifications and conditions for the corporations, as well as quality standards. Frizzelle said the measure would empower county governments to authorize the roadways, free of any other regulatory agencies.

Other issues mentioned by Orange County legislators in an informal survey included crime victims’ rights, drug testing, toxic pollution, campaign finances and the death penalty.

Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) said funding for the county’s public services infrastructure, “the skeletal backbone of economic growth,” will be at the top of his agenda in the new session. He cited estimates that the state will need to spend $65 billion during the next 14 years for streets, roads, schools, public safety, water delivery and treatment systems, and toxic waste treatment.

Frizzelle said something needs to be done soon about toxic wastes in the household. He plans to introduce a measure calling for a feasibility study on requiring separation of potentially toxic substances from household garbage. Because of paints, insecticides and other chemicals, Frizzelle said he believes householders are “as large a toxic polluter as any business.”

Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra), who was a key player in the successful campaign to oust California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird, said his main goal will be writing laws that overturn a number of state Supreme Court decisions on the death penalty.

Johnson said he also is interested in legislation to limit political contributions. He had authored an unsuccessful voter initiative in 1984 that would have limited campaign contributions to political candidates.

Allen intends to seek restoration of funds for the Urban Impact Aid program, which provides special stipends to school districts that have a large concentration of poor and bilingual students. Deukmejian drastically slashed funding for the program last September after Allen lost a political battle within the Legislature to give a greater share of the special funds to central Orange County school districts.

Several Orange County districts that would qualify now for the funds had far fewer poor students when the program was created in 1977. Allen said she will fight next year to both restore money for the entire program and to rewrite the allocation formula to give fairer shares of the money to short-changed school systems.

Sen. Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim) said he will seek a constitutional amendment giving victims of crime “the right to a speedy trial.” Royce said the measure, intended to stop delays that sometimes keep criminal trials out of court for three years, would “bring about a certain balance in the criminal justice system.”

Royce said he also will pursue drug-testing legislation, including a measure that would require random tests for anyone on parole or probation for a drug-related offense, and another that would require drug tests for anyone involved in a traffic accident in which someone is injured or killed.

Bergeson said she plans to push for restoration of cities’ immunity from lawsuits over injuries at beaches and other recreational areas. She proposed a similar bill last year.