Wilson’s Growth Plan Commended by Brown : Development: Assembly Speaker says legislation based on the governor’s proposal can be passed this year.

Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown said Tuesday he believes that a meaningful statewide growth management plan can be enacted this year, commending Republican Gov. Pete Wilson for a proposal to accomplish that goal.

The governor on Monday unveiled his plan, in the works for two years, which is based on offering financial incentives to local governments that adopt growth management plans that meet state standards.

“I think it is a noble effort,” the Speaker said at a Capitol news conference. “The fact that the governor has made it the centerpiece of his program for this year means that it will get serious attention.”

Asked if he felt something tangible on growth management would become a reality this year, Brown said: “I do, I definitely do, in part because I think the governor is now committed to that course of action.”

He said he met with Wilson for one hour Monday to discuss the subject, telling the governor that the five authors of past competing bills should get together to build a legislative response to the growth management question.

Included in Wilson’s plan is a proposal allowing builders in some cases to bypass review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Asked about the CEQA recommendation, Brown said: “There is no question that (the act) is exploited” and should be reviewed.

The Democratic legislative leader and the GOP governor, however, disagreed on another plank of the growth management plan.

Brown previously authored an unsuccessful bill to create seven regional super-governments to deal with problems such as air pollution that transcend normal city-county boundaries.

Wilson specifically rejected this idea in his proposal. In 1991, Brown’s bill barely got out of the Assembly by a 41-30 vote, the exact margin required for approval. It later died in the Senate.

Brown said his overall relations with the governor are much improved over last year when there was a bitter 63-day budget stalemate and Wilson and Brown attacked each other repeatedly.

“We’re are not fighting and we’re obviously talking,” he said. Brown also said the two staffs also are talking this year, which is another “clear sign of a comfort level.”