Compromise on State Bond Issues OKd

Rejecting the bulk of $18 billion in bond proposals floating around the Legislature, Gov. George Deukmejian and legislative leaders have agreed to limit bond measures appearing on the June primary ballot to a total of $5.1 billion, the governor’s office said Friday.

The compromise package includes $800 million for construction of schools from kindergarten through high school, $450 million for higher education facilities, $450 million for prison construction, $300 million for earthquake safety projects for public buildings and $150 million for housing programs for low-income people, first-time home buyers and the homeless.

The officeholders also agreed to put an additional $1.7 billion in bond proposals on the November general election ballot.

The money would be used for construction and other capital improvements. The governor and legislative leaders held out the possibility of adding more bond measures to the November ballot.

The Legislature still must approve the compromise agreed to by Deukmejian and leaders of the Senate and Assembly.

Left out of the June package are proposed bond measures to provide capital improvements for parks, water projects and sewage treatment plants. Construction money for elementary and high schools also was reduced, something that one key lawmaker predicted could create political problems in the Legislature.

“We are getting only $800 million for kindergarten through high school construction in June. That is just a spit in the river compared to the need,” said Sen. Daniel E. Boatwright (D-Concord), chairman of the Senate Bonded Indebtedness and Methods of Financing Committee.

Boatwright indicated that he probably will go along with the deal but said other Democrats may fight it. Some lawmakers, he said, may want to spend substantially less money to build prisons--one of the governor’s top priorities--and put more money into schools.

“There are enough votes to get it (the bond package) out of my committee, but I don’t know if there are enough votes to get it out of the house. People think crowded classrooms are the biggest problem in the state,” Boatwright said, noting that estimates run as high as $11 billion to rebuild schools and construct new ones in growing communities.

As it is, the $5.1-billion package is just a shade under the record $5.5 billion approved by voters in the November, 1988, general election.

A problem the governor and legislative leaders faced in putting the package together was that a $1.9-billion rail bond initiative already has qualified for the ballot and a $1-billion bond measure that is a key part of Deukmejian’s $18.5-billion transportation package also will be on the ballot. That left the negotiators with about $2 billion to work with in order to keep the package within the $5-billion range.

The bonds would be repaid over a 20-year period with state tax revenues.

Deukmejian’s press secretary, Robert J. Gore, noted that the agreement reached during a private meeting on Thursday represented a compromise among competing interests.

“There are those who feel it is not enough, others who feel it’s too much. The governor believes it is adequate,” Gore said.

Treasurer Thomas W. Hayes, who had been urging the Legislature to hold down the total cost of proposed bonds, supports the package. “Basically, we are pretty happy because Tom had been urging them to keep it in the $4-billion to $5-billion range. They used a lot of restraint,” said Donna Lucas, the treasurer’s spokeswoman.