Session Ends on Somber Note : Lawmakers Leave String of Unsolved Problems

California lawmakers trudged out of town Thursday as the 1988 legislative session ended, leaving behind a string of nettlesome problems and fretting about the outcome of an FBI investigation into political corruption at the state Capitol.

For the most part, legislative leaders abandoned their traditional orgy of self-congratulation, preferring instead to remain silent about the session’s outcome or pledging to strive for a better year in 1989.

Lawmakers conceded that many major issues, from auto insurance to freeway traffic, are no closer to being solved today than they were when the Legislature convened in January.

“Everything has just been stifled,” said Senate Republican Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno, a veteran of 17 years in the Legislature. “It’s the worst year I’ve seen.”

Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) granted but then canceled a customary end-of-session interview on the Legislature’s accomplishments.

Even Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), who customarily puts everything in the rosiest light, sounded a pessimistic tone as he sent the Assembly on its way shortly before dawn Thursday with a low-key, almost somber, farewell speech.

The year, Brown said, “was not the banner year it could have been. I hope we can move toward a better day and better-quality legislation. The work we did not complete tonight must be done.”

The session was marked more by distractions than accomplishments, many lawmakers said.

It began with a bitter partisan battle over Gov. George Deukmejian’s failed nomination of Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-Long Beach) to the job of state treasurer. It included long guerrilla warfare against Brown by a small group of dissident Democrats who call themselves the “Gang of Five.” And it ended with legislators guessing at the effect of the FBI’s raid last week of four Capitol offices in search of evidence to prove allegations of bribery and extortion gathered during a nearly three-year probe.

All along, lawmakers were prevented from tackling a broad array of issues because they were preoccupied by all the distractions, plus a $2-billion budget shortfall.

Most legislators cited as their top accomplishment the passage of a bill allowing the state to take over the financing of trial courts from counties. But Thursday’s last-minute action on that bill was needed only because a similar measure that the Legislature passed a year ago was so flawed that counties could not implement it.

The Legislature did pass hundreds of bills in 1988, most of them to solve constituent problems or tackle nonpartisan issues.

Legislators, for example, approved a measure to force truckers to cover their loads to protect motorists’ windshields from flying rocks. They passed a bill to make it easier for counties to hold and treat the mentally ill homeless in locked mental hospitals. And they passed legislation aimed at reducing smog in urban areas. All are pending with the governor.

AIDS Legislation Approved

Another bill sent to the governor, which he is expected to sign, would revamp the governing, financing and hiring at California’s 106 community colleges. Deukmejian will also be weighing the last of more than 50 bills on AIDS that were sent to his desk this year, including one that would ban discrimination against people who test positive for the virus that leads to acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

The Legislature also approved a controversial new statewide standard for obscenity. Supporters of the bill contend that the measure will make it easier to prosecute purveyors of hard-core pornography. And the lawmakers passed a bill long-sought by Deukmejian to allow law enforcement agencies to use electronic eavesdropping on suspected drug pushers.

But California’s urban roads and highways are still clogged with traffic and there is no solution in sight. Some business leaders are now complaining that the crisis is hurting the state’s economy, yet the Legislature did not provide money for construction of new freeways.

Also left unresolved was how to deal with rapidly climbing automobile insurance premiums that have infuriated motorists across the state. As a result of the Legislature’s inaction on that issue, voters will face a bewildering series of competing insurance initiatives on the November ballot.

Another problem that lawmakers did not address this year was the state’s program for compensating injured workers. Critics say the program is costly yet delivers relatively low benefits.

Some blame these stalemates on the Legislature’s inability to mediate longstanding disputes among the powerful interests that lawmakers depend on to fill their campaign treasuries. Democratic and Republican leaders blame each other.

The Democrats also point an accusing finger at Deukmejian, contending that he lacks creative proposals for solving problems and is too stubborn to compromise.

“This is a democratic government, where you have at least five recognized factions dealing on every issue confronting the state,” said Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles). “You have the governor, the two caucuses in the Senate and the two caucuses in the Assembly. When one of those defaults on working toward solutions that incorporate the interests and values of all the interested parties, you will have stalemate. You will have political gridlock.”

Gasoline Tax

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Transportation Committee, cited the governor’s approach to the recent negotiations over raising the gasoline tax to illustrate why his relationship with the Legislature is frayed. Deukmejian, who has staked his political career on an unbending pledge never to raise taxes, said he would not stand in the way of placing a gas tax increase on the ballot to pay for new highways, yet he would not associate himself with the idea. The talks eventually collapsed.

“At the critical time when the Legislature was very close to a solution, the only outstanding issue at that point was how you could fashion a solution without involving the governor, or appearing to involve the governor, or so the governor could claim he had nothing to do with it,” Katz said.

“When you think about that, it’s a bizarre concept. The man is the governor of California. Part of his job is to lead and to form consensus. He seems to abdicate that role. In all the major crises, be they transportation or insurance, health care or workers compensation, a governor who was committed to finding a solution would have made a great difference.”

Michael R. Frost, Deukmejian’s chief of staff, said in an interview Thursday that the Administration’s negotiations with the Legislature often founder because the lawmakers do not anoint representatives empowered to speak for the majority.

“He has always been willing to negotiate with the Legislature,” Frost said. “Sometimes the Legislature doesn’t know how to negotiate with the governor.”

Budget Compromise

Frost pointed out that he, as the governor’s personal representative, negotiated with legislative leaders Tuesday night and again for 2 1/2 hours on Wednesday in reaching agreement on a budget compromise.

Assembly Republican Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale, a close Deukmejian ally, added that the governor is reluctant to deal with the Democrats because they demand too high a price for his cooperation.

On the gas tax issue, Nolan said, the problem was not the governor but the Democrats, who in the end insisted on linking a gas tax increase to a plan for loosening or repealing the constitutional limit on government spending. The linkage was the idea of the state’s public employee labor unions.

“The Democrats are so used to having their way from when they had two-thirds majorities in each house and the governorship that essentially we’ve been in a six-year-long tantrum by the Democrats,” Nolan said. “They can’t accept the fact that they aren’t still running the show.”

Different Viewpoints

Democrats and Republicans have different views of how successful the session was. While the Democrats tended to see the Legislature’s inability to solve major problems as a failure, the Republicans seemed more content to move slowly.

“The fact that we didn’t solve all these things this year is not a problem,” Nolan said, characterizing the session as fairly successful. “It takes time for a consensus to jell.”

Deukmejian claimed victory during the legislative session, contending that he accomplished “virtually all of the goals” he outlined during the course of the year.

Deukmejian cited the wiretap bill, the trial court financing legislation, and a constitutional amendment giving governors the authority to revoke parole for dangerous felons, which was passed by the Legislature and will now appear on the November ballot.

“From our perspective it was a quite productive legislative session,” Frost said.