Transport Panel Rejects Move to Delay Merger Bill

By a 4-3 vote, a panel studying the proposed consolidation of the county’s bus agency and transportation commission rejected a bid Monday to delay state legislation that would permit the merger.

Introduced by state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), the merger bill (SB 838) is scheduled for a May 2 hearing before the Senate Transportation Committee in Sacramento.

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young, Tustin Councilman Richard B. Edgar and Orange County Transit District board member William E. Farris tried to delay the legislation until next year for further study of the costs involved and possible alternatives to consolidation, said Tom Fortune, spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Commission.

Opposing the delay were Brea Councilwoman Clarice A. Blamer, San Juan Capistrano Councilman Phillip R. Schwartze, and Orange County Supervisors Roger R. Stanton and Gaddi H. Vasquez.

Several issues have split the county’s Ad Hoc Committee on Consolidation, including a dispute about who would sit on the new board that would oversee a combined agency.

Advocates of the proposed merger argue that it will save money and give the public a single agency to hold accountable for local transportation decisions.

A multilayered bureaucracy now sets highway and transit goals, with officials occasionally adopting contradictory policies or taking opposing positions in Sacramento and Washington.

But foes say the merger proposal is really a power grab by county officials who would dominate transportation decisions--at the expense of the county’s 28 cities. They also argue that a new board would bog down in day-to-day road and transit operations, instead of focusing on long-range planning.

In other action Monday, the panel adopted in principle a proposed amendment to legislation that would block a merger unless it is first approved by majorities of both the Board of Supervisors and city councils representing at least 50.1% of the county’s population.