Legislature Quickly OKs Flood Aid Bills

Acting with unusual speed, the two houses of the Legislature on Thursday approved separate parts of a multimillion-dollar package of tax relief benefits for individuals, businesses and local governments hard hit by heavy storms and floods last week.

Both houses voted overwhelming approval of several emergency bills while meeting in a special session ordered by Gov. Pete Wilson. Final passage of the relief package is expected next week, and upon being signed by Wilson would become effective immediately.

A spokesman said Wilson, who is vacationing in Europe, supports the basic elements of the proposed bills.

The legislation would reimburse local governments for their loss of property tax revenue caused by weather damage and enable homeowners and businesses to write off losses not covered by flood insurance on their state income taxes.

The proposals--consisting of three Assembly bills and one Senate measure--would provide victims of the disastrous storms in 37 counties with the same kind of emergency relief enacted for other major disasters, including the Northridge earthquake and the Southern California wildfires and floods.

State and federal disaster officials have estimated the damage from the recent storms at more than $300 million.

In the Assembly, warring Democrats and Republicans temporarily put aside their seven-week-old speakership fight to take up the flood relief legislation. The relief bills received unanimous bipartisan approval with no debate and went to the Senate.

The action marked the first time since the Legislature convened Dec. 5 that the Assembly had taken substantive action on any issue. Leaders of both parties agreed to put the politically popular flood relief issue on a fast track.

Democrat Willie Brown of San Francisco, who is battling to recapture the speakership, called the approval of the relief program a “good indication that we can work together on a bipartisan basis.” He said Californians want a Legislature that can deliver in a “pinch in getting them the aid they need.”

Although no longer Speaker, Brown presided over the session Thursday as if nothing had changed. As the Assembly’s senior member, he is the presiding officer in lieu of a Speaker.

In the Senate, a similar bill by Sen. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) won swift approval and went to the Assembly on a 36-1 vote. The lone negative vote was cast by Sen. Tom Campbell (R-Stanford).

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Thompson, who represents several of the wine country counties soaked by flooding, said the recovery legislation was an important step in helping victims put their lives back together, even though it “doesn’t make everyone whole.”

“You are never made whole when you lose everything you’ve worked for,” he said.

But Campbell, who represents affluent communities in the Silicon Valley, argued against spending taxpayer funds to help cover the losses of persons who live in flood plains but do not carry flood insurance.

“The time must come when we stop rewarding these people,” Campbell said. For such residents, he said, the proposed relief amounted to an economic “incentive to fail to be responsible” by purchasing insurance.

Campbell drew a rebuke from fellow Republican Sen. Tim Leslie of Carnelian Bay, whose north state district also was heavily damaged. He said Campbell’s political “timing is out of whack.”

Sen. Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier) also scolded Campbell, telling him, “We don’t all live in Palo Alto. We don’t all have the (high) income. People live where they can afford to live.”

Officials said the full price tag of the four-bill package must await a final assessment of damage, a process that may take months to complete.

Preliminarily, the state Department of Finance has estimated a one-time property tax reimbursement to local governments of up to $460,000 and payments up to $70,000 for community colleges for damage suffered, Senate aides said.

In addition to Thompson, the authors of the bills were Assemblywoman Valerie Brown (D-Sonoma) and freshmen members Kerry Mazzoni (D-Novato) and Brooks Firestone (R-Los Olivos).

Key provisions of the legislation, which next week may be merged into a single bill with multiple authors, would allow individuals and businesses in the affected counties to carry forward 100% of uninsured property losses on the state income or corporate taxes for up to five years.

At the end of five years, any remaining uncovered loss could be written off over 10 years at a rate of up to 50% of the annual tax liability.

Other provisions would require the state to pay the entire amount of non-federal rebuilding costs, thus relieving cities and counties from paying a 25% share. Income taxpayers also would be allowed to deduct flood casualty losses on their 1994 tax returns even though the losses occurred in 1995.