Legislature Sends Governor the Bills as Session Comes to Close

Giddiness took over Wednesday night as the state Legislature’s 1993-94 session rolled toward closure. Several San Fernando Valley-area lawmakers were among those who got a little punch drunk in the moments before the curtain fell.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), often at the forefront of the in crowd, flouted the dress code by changing into a personalized black “end of session” T-shirt and jeans.

Assemblyman James Rogan (R-Glendale) told a funny story about getting caught scrawling his name inside the Capitol dome at a secret location known only to lawmakers leaving their mark.

Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) summed up her crusade to rename a portion of the Simi Valley Freeway after former President Ronald Reagan as “a marvelous experience.”

And people were taking potshots at state Sen. Don Rogers (R-Tehachapi), insisting that anything with his name still on it be read especially closely. Rogers remained in the Democrats’ doghouse for appearing before a suspected white supremacist group in Bakersfield last weekend.

But amid the merriment and verbal roughhousing, serious business was getting done. In the last week of the session, critical decisions were made on dozens of bills introduced by Valley legislators. Here is a sample:

* A controversial bill to seize the cars of unlicensed drivers won approval after it was weakened significantly in response to concerns over civil liberties. Dubbed the Safe Streets Act of 1994, the bill is now on the governor’s desk awaiting signature or veto.

The measure would allow police to confiscate the car of an unlicensed driver who has a prior conviction for driving without a valid license. A previous version of the measure would have allowed seizure of autos belonging to first-time offenders. Once confiscated the car would be sold, with proceeds going to pay off the car loan, the tow-truck company and the impound lot.

The idea, says the bill’s author, Katz, is to remove dangerous drivers from the road. According to the state Department of Motor Vehicles, 2 million of California’s 20 million motorists slide behind the wheel illegally. A study shows they were responsible for about 12% of motor vehicle fatalities last year.

* Earthquake victims recalling the headache of overpaying for goods and services after the Northridge temblor will want to watch for the outcome of a price-gouging bill passed by the Legislature.

Gov. Pete Wilson must now decide whether to sign this bill, which would extend protection to unincorporated areas not covered by an existing Los Angeles law.

Initially the Wilson Administration opposed this Katz measure because it would allow prices to be increased by only 10% instead of the 50% the Administration thought fair in the wake of a disaster.

But the governor’s Department of Consumer Affairs quickly reversed field and removed its objections after an outcry from consumer rights groups.

The bill would make it a misdemeanor to raise prices by more than 10% following a declared state of emergency.

* Quake victims no doubt will also be interested in what happens to a bill by Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles) to prevent insurance companies from bailing out on their customers after a major temblor or firestorm.

Passed by the Legislature and now on Wilson’s desk, the bill would authorize the governor, during a state of emergency, to block insurance companies from canceling or refusing to renew policies. The exceptions are when a customer falls behind on payments or commits fraud.

Under the bill, the order would remain in effect for one year. The measure “would prevent people who have been pummeled by a natural disaster from being slammed again when their insurance is canceled,” Margolin said.

* Not one, not two, but three bills are on the governor’s desk to clean up a messy problem created by Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

Antonovich has the distinction of inspiring three different lawmakers to write bills to plug loopholes that forced the county to pay a $1.2-million civil judgment on his behalf.

Assemblywoman Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey), Assemblyman Paul Horcher (R-Diamond Bar) and Katz all secured passage of proposals limiting the liability of local governments when elected officials misbehave.

Each measure has a slightly different focus, but all would restrict the use of taxpayer funds to defend a lawsuit or pay a judgment against an elected official who is guilty of misconduct.

The need for such legislation arose after Los Angeles County taxpayers picked up the $1.2-million tab for Antonovich when a court found him liable last year for conspiring to influence a judge on behalf of a campaign contributor.

Antonovich had telephoned a judge five years ago to put in a good word for campaign donor Krikor Suri and his jewelry business partners, embroiled in a lawsuit with another partner. Campaign reports disclose that Suri and his companies contributed $19,000 to Antonovich’s campaign from 1985 until 1989, loaned him $10,000 about a month before he phoned the judge and made a $3,000 contribution four days after the call was made.

* Fast-moving firestorms such as the ones that swept through Topanga Canyon and Calabasas last year sparked a bill by Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Brentwood) to add new firefighting equipment to the state’s arsenal.

The measure, passed and sent to the governor’s desk, authorizes a trial lease of two “superscooper” firefighting planes capable of dipping down into the ocean to scoop up 1,600 gallons of water to drop on blazes.

The exotic aircraft are used in Canada, France and Spain in terrain similar to Southern California. The cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas and Westlake Village support the measure, which is similar to one authored by Friedman two years ago but vetoed by Wilson.

* Valley-area library backers are joining others in flooding the governor’s office with cards and letters in support of a bill by state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) to create a new funding mechanism for libraries.

The bill would let voters decide whether the county should set up a so-called benefit assessment district to help fund Los Angeles County branches. Under such a district, property owners would be billed about $25 annually.

Although similar to a move county supervisors took this week to create a community facilities district and bill property owners $28.50 each, Roberti’s proposal has one key difference--it requires local voter approval.

Wilson vetoed a similar bill last year, but must consider his more politically vulnerable position this year. Library users who want to see the bill signed into law are aware the governor is running for reelection, and they hope to remind him they are one group that tends to turn out on Election Day.

Plenty of other bills went down to defeat, including Roberti’s measure to broaden California’s assault weapons ban to include so-called “copycat” weapons.

It was a last hurrah for a veteran state senator whose earlier weapons ban so angered gun-rights advocates that they launched an unsuccessful attempt to recall Roberti last April. But Roberti has to give up his seat due to term limits.

Another eleventh-hour effort that fell short of its goal would have provided additional funding to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for purchase of public parkland.

Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) reportedly scotched a scheme by Katz to get funds for the conservancy by tucking $17.5 million into a $375-million infrastructure and park bonds bill by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.

The sum included $5 million tentatively earmarked for buying land in the Big Tujunga Wash, Katz said.

However, Lockyer dashed hopes for passage of any bond measures, and Brown’s bill died in the Senate on Wednesday night after sailing through the Assembly.

Conservancy Executive Director Joe Edmiston, who admitted to “trolling the hallways” of the Capitol in search of allies, said it was a coup to have that much money slipped into an existing bonds bill.

But even $17.5 million would not have reversed the cash drought the conservancy has suffered of late because of cutbacks in state and federal allocations.

“When you’re dying of thirst in the desert, you don’t need a lake, you need a spring,” Edmiston said. “Unfortunately, I think we were crawling toward a mirage.”