For L.A. County, Metro Rail Gain, Loss for Refugees

Los Angeles County stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal assistance for mass transit, newly legalized immigrants and refugees under President Bush’s proposed $1.2-trillion budget released Monday, a variety of experts said.

The county also faces the prospect that two military bases--the Long Beach Naval Shipyard and the Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo--will be closed. Moreover, military and civilian personnel will be reduced at Edwards Air Force Base in Palmdale.

On the plus side of the ledger, the spending plan includes $285 million for Metro Rail construction in Los Angeles, $67.2 million for seismic upgrading and renovation of two buildings at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Long Beach and $24.9 million for new family housing at the Long Beach Naval Station, which adjoins the shipyard.

Another $11.5 million is earmarked for parkland acquisition in the Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area. This is slightly less than the $12 million Congress appropriated last year and considerably less than the $20 million to $30 million that Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) and other park proponents say they will seek.

The county also stands to benefit from modest increases in funds to combat drug trafficking, assist first-time home buyers and improve airport safety. Conversely, proposed reductions in community development and job-training funds would adversely affect Los Angeles.

Overall, the President’s budget appears to be less hostile to city and county programs and services than former President Ronald Reagan’s spending blueprints, lobbyists said Monday.

In any case, it represents only the opening salvo in a months-long process that culminates with Congress passing spending bills that will likely vary dramatically from the President’s proposals.

The grants set up to assist newly legal immigrants obtain permanent U.S. residency under the 1986 immigration reform bill are certain to be one battleground. California receives 58% of the national total for State Legalization Impact Assistance Grants, and Los Angeles County 25%. The total graphically represents California’s share of new immigrant residents.

Under the sweeping 1986 bill, $1 billion was to be appropriated annually between 1987 and 1991 for English and citizenship classes and reimbursement to states and counties for health and welfare costs.

Bush’s budget proposes only $301 million for 1991. That would leave a shortfall of $320 million that the state might have to pick up, and approximately $100 million for Los Angeles County, said Mark Tajima, a Los Angeles County legislative analyst.

“Legalization is a federal program, created by Congress with the implicit promise that the federal government would bear its expense,” said Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), one of the architects of the 1986 law. “The loss of these funds is a devastating blow and simply means that state and local taxpayers will be left holding the bag.”

The SLIAG program has been running a surplus, making it a tempting target for Congress as well as successive Republican administrations. Its proponents say it has been slow in gearing up, but that the money will be needed. Nevertheless, Congress cut the 1990 appropriation by $555 million.

Through Berman’s efforts, Congress agreed to reinstate those funds in the 1992 fiscal year. But language in Bush’s budget proposal seeks to prohibit that repayment.

The refugee resettlement funds in Bush’s budget remain at $368.8 million, the same amount appropriated for this year. This, too, is bad news for Los Angeles County, Tajima said, because it fails to make up for a $50-million cut in the current budget year.

Of the 92,957 refugees in the United States who are eligible for federal assistance, California is home to 56,859, or 61%. Tajima said the cost shift to the state would be nearly $100 million in welfare assistance alone, without including added medical expenses.

In other budget proposals, although the Long Beach Naval Shipyard is targeted for possible closure, Bush’s budget includes $500,000 for asbestos removal at the shipyard. The shipyard is the city’s second largest employer.

Also cited for closure is the Los Angeles Air Force Base, which develops satellite communication and navigation and launch systems. Its 1,791 military and 1,650 civilian personnel would be reduced by 133 and 228, respectively, in 1991 under Defense Secretary Dick Cheney’s proposal. The Air Force hopes to move most of those workers north to Vandenberg Air Force Base, near Lompoc.

Edwards Air Force Base, the nation’s pre-eminent aircraft test and research site, is targeted to lose 167 military personnel and 250 civilian Defense Department employees in the next year.

The budget proposal also calls for the Southern California Rapid Transit District to receive none of its current $48.8 million in federal subsidies. The President proposes to eliminate mass transit operating assistance for urban areas with populations of more than 1 million.

“If this were to be approved, we would be faced with possibly having to raise our fares by up to 30 cents,” said RTD General Manager Alan F. Tegg. “We hope that our representatives in Washington will vigorously oppose this destructive cut.”

At the same time, RTD officials said they were pleased that Bush had included $285 million in discretionary Urban Mass Transit Administration funds to complete the second phase of Metro Rail construction from downtown to North Hollywood. Although Congress has consistently set aside money for the $667-million total federal contribution to this leg of the subway system, Reagan never included money in his budget proposals.

Staff writers Paul Feldman in Los Angeles and Faye Fiore and David Haldane in Long Beach contributed to this story.