Panel to Offer Plan for State Economy : Commerce: The business, academic and labor leaders will seek ways to bolster California.

The California Council on Science and Technology, a coalition of business, academic and labor leaders, announced Wednesday the formation of a select panel of state leaders to devise a plan to bolster California’s faltering economy.

The panel met with Gov. Pete Wilson in Sacramento to offer the outlines of a program focusing on the transportation and telecommunications industries. It will continue meeting periodically the next 14 months to devise an “action plan” covering alternative vehicles, highways and energy systems.

The group is co-chaired by Roy Anderson, chairman emeritus of Lockheed Corp., and Malcolm Currie, chairman emeritus of Hughes Aircraft Co.

“By bringing all these skills and high-powered people together, we can use their talents and tap into other resources they may choose to bring,” said Julie Wright, director of the state Department of Commerce.

Wright, a member of the panel, said aerospace--suffering from Pentagon budget cuts and layoffs--is one industry that could contribute a “cadre of very talented employees and services” to the project.

Transportation will be the focus of the initiative, called Project California, because it “is an issue that every Californian deals with every day,” Wright said. “We clearly have transportation challenges in this state.”

Other members of the panel include Steven Sample, president of the University of Southern California; Edward Stone, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and Ed Zschau, chairman of Censtor Corp.

Other proposals of the panel include:

* Developing electric and semi-electric vehicles and alternative fuels.

* Designing “smart highways.”

* Building bullet trains and “smart highways” in major cities to relieve congestion.

* Developing alternative, environmentally sound fuel sources.

* Streamlining the state’s energy bureaucracy.

Wright said Wilson gave the group strong encouragement during their meeting.

“He is clearly aware of the transportation challenges California faces and of the competitiveness issue,” Wright said. “There is a pressing need to deal with issues like congestion, zero-emission standards by ’98 and air pollution.”