Bill on Border Bonding Authority Is Cut Back

A controversial bill to create a bonding authority at the U.S.-Mexico border was drastically scaled back Wednesday before it was allowed to move along in the legislative process.

As originally written, the measure by Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) had drawn bitter opposition from San Diego business and civic leaders because it would have created a binational authority with the power to float revenue bonds as well as impose fees and tolls for the use of border improvements. Local leaders complained that this would usurp their authority.

On Wednesday, Polanco agreed to take out those provisions to win support from Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Rancho San Diego) and gain passage from the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. As it stands now, the stripped-down authority would only have the power to administer bonds approved by local government.

As a gesture of good will, Peace proposed that the scaled-down authority be put in charge of a $40-million bond package he is pushing to help pay for pollution control along the border. If approved by the Legislature, Peace’s bond package will be presented to voters on the November ballot.

Peace said that, even with its drastically reduced powers, the proposed authority would still be enough to help resolve the myriad problems--inadequate roads, unchecked pollution, insufficient water pipes, inadequate housing--that bedevil the border.

“The biggest problem we’ve had on the border is we have too many jurisdictions,” he said. “What Richard’s bill does is consolidate the jurisdictions at one point. At every single level of government, when they discuss the border, they say their biggest problem is they don’t have one place where they all come and talk.”

Despite the agreement Wednesday, Polanco said he is unhappy with the scaled-down powers and will try to revive much of his bill when it moves to the Senate for study. He said he agreed to Peace’s amendments so he could keep the proposal alive and not “have a bill die on the vine, if you will.”