Legislators Begin ’93 Session by Making a Bid for Jobs : Government: Lawmakers plan to compete with other states for a federal accounting complex that would employ 4,000 on Norton Air Force Base site.

As the Legislature opened its 1993 session Monday, one of its first items of business was an attempt to win the state a federal accounting center on the site of Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino County.

Federal officials have decided to close Norton by early 1994.

Gov. Pete Wilson called a special legislative session to ask lawmakers to take steps to obtain the accounting center, which would create about 4,000 jobs, according to Sen. Ruben Ayala (D-Chino).

About 20 other states are in competition for the five to seven proposed centers where the federal government will centralize accounting operations.

The special session, to run concurrently with the regular legislative session, will continue while the measure is heard before committees and brought to a floor vote in both chambers. Setting the matter aside for attention in special session enables lawmakers to speed up the process toward approval.

Ayala, who is sponsoring the legislation, said, “The Inland Empire already is suffering from both a lack of economic strength and high unemployment. This accounting center certainly would help the situation.”

His bill would provide for $11.5 million in various state incentives, including $1.5 million to help upgrade Norton buildings.

A co-author of Ayala’s bill, Sen. Bill Leonard (R-Upland), indicated that the state’s investment might have to go higher.

“The federal government is playing hardball,” Leonard said. “They are asking us to tell them how much we will do for them to make it less expensive to operate the accounting center. This is one that we’ve got to win. We must make our package competitive (with those of other states).”

Assemblyman Joe Baca (D-San Bernardino) also introduced legislation in the lower house designed to help make it easier for California to obtain the Norton federal accounting center and train personnel who would work there.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) told reporters that legislation to break up the vast Los Angeles Unified School District into smaller entities will be at the top of his agenda.

“Why is it that the kids in the city of Los Angeles have to be stuck with this enormous monstrosity (when) every other district has local control and neighborhood control?” he asked rhetorically. “Well, the time has come to let the children in Los Angeles have the same neighborhood control that everybody else has.”

For years, critics of the Los Angeles school district, particularly in the San Fernando Valley, have argued unsuccessfully for splitting the district into smaller, more easily managed parts. However, the politics of actually doing so has always resulted in failure.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) missed the opening legislative session. Brown was in Dallas, where his 83-year-old mother, Minnie Collins Boyd, died over the weekend.

Wilson is scheduled to present his annual State of the State speech to the Assembly and Senate at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The governor plans to unveil his 1993-94 proposed state budget on Friday morning.

Times staff writer Carl Ingram contributed to this story.