‘Christmas Tree’ Legislation Approved

Gov. George Deukmejian and legislative leaders have agreed to “Christmas tree” legislation loaded with $48.2 million for 115 pet projects, ranging from a Los Angeles area Latino history museum to a Huntington Beach Pier restoration and parkland acquisition in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The proposal is the product of two months of negotiations between Democratic and Republican leaders and the governor’s staff. It was amended into a bill on the Assembly floor Thursday night after similar amendments were tucked into another bill on the Senate floor Wednesday.

Kevin Brett, the governor’s press secretary, confirmed Thursday that “there is a basic agreement between the governor’s office and the legislative leadership” to set aside funds for the projects, many of which Deukmejian had vetoed from the state budget in July.

In his budget veto message, the governor complained that many of the projects “were inserted into the budget at the last minute and hadn’t been reviewed by the state Department of Parks and Recreation.”

Brett said the review is now taking place and cautioned that some of the projects could still be deleted from the proposal, which is expected to be acted upon before the Legislature adjourns for the year tonight.

In recent years, it has become a tradition of sorts for similar “pork-barrel” legislation to be cobbled together in the final weeks of the session. Such bills allow the state’s 120 lawmakers to obtain specific projects for their constituents back home.

“This has something for all our political districts,” Sen. James Nielsen (R-Rohnert Park) told his colleagues before the Senate vote.

Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose), who inserted the amendments in the Senate, said the goal of the negotiators was “to do something reasonable” and to partially restore Deukmejian’s budget cuts.

The $48.2 million was split four ways among the Democratic and Republican caucuses of each house, according to legislative staffers close to the negotiations. The funds are from a variety of sources, including the new Proposition 99 cigarette tax revenues, highway funds, the Proposition 70 park bond issue of 1988 and park bonds from earlier years.

One potentially controversial provision in the bill amended in the Senate addresses the dispute over how to preserve the rare spotted owl and other wildlife without putting loggers out of business. The proposal provides about $400,000 for a task force to study the impact of cutting timber on the habitat of wildlife, including the spotted owl.

Supporters anticipate that the funds will be repaid, partly by timber companies, which will use the data to develop plans for logging operations.

Among the big winners are three museum projects.

The proposal earmarks $300,000 in seed money for a proposed Latino History Museum, which would serve as a showcase for the history, culture and contributions of Latinos in California. A spokesman for Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Whittier), who has been pushing for the museum, said the funds will go to a nonprofit group seeking to establish the facility in the Los Angeles area.

The legislation also sets aside $200,000 for a Northern California Afro-American Museum and $1 million for an agriculture museum at Cal State Fresno. Another $1.1 million is earmarked for preliminary plans for the California Citrus State Historic Park in the Riverside area.

The lion’s share of the money in the legislation is for public works projects, including grants to cities for parks.

The proposal also boosts efforts to repair piers, with $1 million going to the Ventura Beach Pier, $500,000 for reconstruction of the Manhattan Beach Pier and $1.5 million for the Huntington Beach Pier.

Among other items in the proposal are:

- $1.7 million for parkland acquisition for Malibu State Park.

- $1.7 million for a variety of Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy open-space acquisitions.

- $2.7 million to buy land for an entrance way at San Diego’s Old Town State Historic Park.