Assembly Panel Delays Action on Landfill Bill

The Assembly Ways and Means Committee has delayed reconsideration of a controversial bill that would prohibit new trash landfills in the Santa Monica Mountains and in a large area of the San Fernando Valley.

The committee recently narrowly rejected the measure, by Assemblyman Terry Friedman (D-Tarzana) but agreed to let him make another attempt at passage.

Friedman said the committee action--postponing consideration until later this month or next--will give him time to fashion amendments that could win support for his proposal.

Friedman’s bill would ban landfills in 155,000 acres of the mountains, including Mission, Rustic and Sullivan canyons, and in 140,000 acres in the Rim of the Valley corridor.