Assembly Votes to Deny County Permission to Build Toll Roads

In a sign that support for toll roads may be weakening, the Assembly voted Thursday to deny Orange County permission to build them near two heavily congested traffic corridors.

The 41-30 vote, along generally partisan lines, followed by less than a month the Assembly’s narrow approval of a bill that would allow counties to build toll roads throughout California.

But Democrats said Thursday that the earlier vote was a mistake and argued that an end to the California tradition of freeways financed by tax money would be bad for commuters and business.

“I believe in the free flow of goods on the roads of California,” said Assemblywoman Delaine Eastin (D-Union City). “I believe the genius of this economy was that we opened it up for business, and we let business run in California on our roads. Those who believe in free markets and the competitiveness of this state will oppose toll roads in California.”

The bill defeated Thursday was written by Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach) and would have allowed the county, a joint-powers agency or a county-designated corporation to build and operate toll roads along the Eastern Transportation Corridor, connecting the Riverside Freeway to the Santa Ana Freeway, and along either the Foothill Corridor, which runs roughly parallel to the Santa Ana Freeway, or the San Joaquin Hills Corridor, which runs from Costa Mesa to San Juan Capistrano.

After his bill was defeated, Frizzelle was given permission to bring it up for another vote if he chooses.

The idea of having the roads built and operated by a private corporation--which is the major difference between Frizzelle’s bill and a Senate-approved bill by Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim)--was criticized by Assemblyman Thomas Hannigan of Fairfield, the Democratic floor leader:

“This authorizes the Orange County Board of Supervisors to grant a franchise to a toll road corporation and, among other things, they (corporation directors) will have the power of eminent domain. So a private corporation conceivably could take property in order to construct and operate a toll road. Further, you can use public funds for this otherwise private enterprise.”

There were signs, however, that other factors--ranging from the current dispute over the state budget to a key Democrat’s anger over losing a vote on the reorganization of the Southern California Rapid Transit District--may have contributed to the defeat of Frizzelle’s bill.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda)--who is chairman of the Transportation Committee and a supporter of the statewide toll-roads bill (also written by Frizzelle) when it passed the Assembly--reversed his vote Thursday. He said afterward he was “rethinking toll roads.” He refused to elaborate.

But other legislative sources said Katz was irate over losing a vote Wednesday on the composition of a proposed super-agency to replace the RTD in Los Angeles. Two Orange County Republicans--Sens. Marian Bergeson of Newport Beach and Seymour--voted over Katz’s objections to add a 12th member, probably Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), to what had been a delicately balanced commission.

Seymour said an aide to Katz called one of his staff members and told her Katz would retaliate against Seymour’s bills in the Assembly. The bill defeated Thursday was similar to the one written by Seymour and approved by the Senate on June 11.

Katz, who last month called toll roads “innovative” and said they “would give motorists a chance,” denied that his reversal was an act of vengeance, saying only that “I look at each bill on the merits.”

Later, Katz phoned a reporter to say that he opposed the bill because, given the Assembly’s earlier approval of the state wide bill, “to have a separate bill for Orange County is somewhat duplicative and unnecessary.”

There were also indications that the Democrats’ solid opposition to the bill might be related to the bitterly partisan stalemate over the state budget and the constitutional spending cap, known as the Gann limit after its author, anti-tax crusader Paul Gann. Gov. George Deukmejian has said that the Gann limit requires a $700-million rebate to the taxpayers. The Democrats disagree, saying the money should go to education.

Assemblyman Rusty Areias (D-Los Banos), who voted for Frizzelle’s bill in the Transportation Committee, said he changed his mind because he has been “haunted” by that vote ever since. He said toll roads would be “a U-turn to yesterday.”

“Transportation facilities ought to be paid for through the gas tax,” Areias said.

“We’ve got a wonderful system in place. The problem is we don’t have a governor with the political courage to raise the gas tax, to raise the Gann limit, to do whatever it takes to address the transportation needs of this state in the year 2000 and beyond.”

Frizzelle’s other bill, which allows any California county to build and operate toll roads, could still become law if approved by the Senate in its current form and signed by Deukmejian, who has said he would support toll roads as long as they are parallel to existing highways. Frizzelle emphasized that point Thursday.

“Those who say it’s not fair to charge people for riding on the toll roads have to understand that those who agree to be charged are (the only ones) who will be charged,” Frizzelle said. “It’s voluntary to the rider on the highway.”

But the Senate, which only narrowly approved Seymour’s bill to allow toll roads as a pilot project in Orange County, seems unlikely to approve Frizzelle’s statewide bill without changes. Such changes would require another vote in the Assembly before the bill could go to the governor.

Seymour noted Thursday that his bill would have a better chance in the Assembly if the defeat of Frizzelle’s bill was complicated by political factors and not based solely on philosophical opposition to tolls.

“If it’s that Mr. Katz is upset and the bitter partisanship over the budget battle, my strategy would be to wait until we have cooler heads and clear thinking rather than all this emotionalism before I bring the bill up over there (in the Assembly),” Seymour said.

“In the meantime, I will work the individual committee members to be sure they take a bipartisan approach to the issue.”

Times staff writer Mark Gladstone contributed to this story.