Transit Superagency Wins Senate Panel OK After Dispute Is Resolved

In a significant breakthrough, the state Senate Transportation Committee voted Tuesday to approve creation of Los Angeles County’s public transit superagency after the plan’s two sponsors settled a disagreement that had raised fears that the proposal might not pass.

Hours of public hearings and a weekend of talks between Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys) and Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) were needed before the two agreed on key language.

Robbins said he is now optimistic about passage of the legislation, which would consolidate the two present public transit agencies in the county, the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.

“There are a few bumps on the road ahead, but Richard Katz and I are working closely together,” Robbins said after the bill was approved by the committee 7 to 5.

Next in its path are the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate floor. If the bill passes those tests, it faces Assembly concurrence on Senate amendments and then be must signed by Gov. George Deukmejian before it becomes law.

Under the legislation, the two agencies, the Rapid Transit District, which runs most of the county’s buses and is building the Metro Rail subway, and the Transportation Commission, a planning and financing body that is building the Los Angeles-to-Long Beach light rail line, would be combined into one agency.

It would be named the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Los Angeles County. It would have vast authority over bus operations, rail construction and operation and highway planning. Backers proposed heaping all those powers onto single agency after there was widespread criticism of the two agencies, centering on the RTD, with charges of management failures, including weak supervision of bus operations and drivers. The changeover would occur next March 1.

Complicated Political Battle

The Robbins-Katz dispute that had stalled the bill had nothing to do with the county’s bus operations or transportation planning. Instead, it was a complicated political battle involving Robbins’ ambitions, local political rivalries and legislative politics.

Robbins, while remaining a senator, wants to serve on the superagency’s governing board. At the last Senate Transportation Committee hearing, he pushed through an amendment adding a member to the board who would be a San Fernando Valley resident chosen by the Legislature’s Joint Rules Committee from a list submitted by the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

That would have boosted the size of the superagency’s governing board from 11 to 12. Katz objected, insisting on an 11-member board. He said an even-numbered body would be unwieldy for voting. Small cities in Los Angeles County also objected, contending that the Robbins’ proposal would give the City of Los Angeles too much representation.

In the settlement, the number of residents from within Los Angeles city on the board was dropped from four to three, retaining the designated San Fernando Valley seat sought by Robbins.

Norman Boyer, lobbyist for the city, objected, as did Santa Monica City Councilwoman Christine Reed, representing the present county Transportation Commission. She charged that Robbins already is lobbying to become the first chairman of the superagency governing board.

Robbins denied it but said he would be pleased to serve on the board if selected.

The new board now would consist of the five Los Angeles County supervisors; the mayor of Los Angeles; one member of the Los Angeles City Council; the legislative appointee from the San Fernando Valley; two small city representatives and a Long Beach City Council member. There would also be a non-voting member appointed by the governor. Previously, the Los Angeles City Council would have had two members.