Pringle’s Sterile Medfly Bill Finally OKd : Legislation: The Garden Grove Republican has been targeted for defeat by Democrats, who fought to strip him of credit for the proposal. The measure passes the Assembly, however.

On its last day in session and after months of political maneuvering, the state Assembly on Friday approved a proposal sponsored by two Orange County legislators that would build up California’s stock of sterile Medflies and reduce the need for malathion spraying.

The bill, jointly sponsored by Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) and state Sen. Ed Royce (R-Anaheim), appropriates $600,000 for the remainder of this fiscal year to produce the sterile Medflies at a laboratory in Hawaii.

The bill passed the Assembly on Friday and the Senate on Thursday without opposition, but that was only after months of wrangling with Democrats, who did not want to see Pringle--one of the Democrats’ main targets this November--get credit for the proposal.

Pringle, just completing his first term, won the 72nd Assembly District seat in central Orange County two years ago by just 867 votes in a controversial election marked by the Republican Party’s posting of uniformed guards at polling places in several heavily Latino precincts.

Democrats have vowed to win the seat this year, and have largely kept Pringle from scoring any major legislative victories that he could use in his reelection campaign. Pringle’s Democratic opponent is Thomas Umberg, who left his job as an assistant U.S. attorney to run for the Assembly seat.

“Certainly it (the Medfly bill) is a bill that people in my area would be concerned about,” Pringle said. “I don’t think it’s one that’s going to elect me or not elect me.”

When reached in Orange County on Friday, Umberg said he supports the idea behind the legislation.

“That’s good that he (Pringle) finally got a bill through the Legislature,” Umberg said. “It might be his last day in the Legislature.”

After Pringle introduced his Medfly bill last spring, Assembly Democrats killed it in the Ways and Means Committee but “hijacked” the language, incorporating it into an unrelated toxic waste bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park). Republicans strenuously objected and threatened to hold up a host of Democratic legislation, and the bill eventually reverted back to Pringle’s sponsorship.

“Powerful Democrats . . . were attempting to make sure no one knew how hard he’d worked on the issue,” said Assembly Minority Leader Ross Johnson (R-La Habra). “I fought hard to see that didn’t happen.”

Even after Pringle regained sponsorship of the bill, Senate Democrats tried to derail it in the Appropriations Committee. But earlier this week, Royce was able to bring it to the Senate floor for a vote, and it was approved 29 to 0.

Royce said the state’s goal now is to build up a stock of about 250 million sterile flies. In the event of a new infestation, an initial “knockdown” spraying would be followed by the release of the sterile flies.