Gallegly’s Familiar Ideas Are Met With New Gusto : Politics: As a member of the majority party, congressman finds a more receptive atmosphere for his conservative agenda.

Rep. Elton Gallegly’s legislative ideas have not changed dramatically between this year and last, but now that his party is running the House of Representatives, they are being received with newfound gusto.

“You may have the best bill in the world--the cure for every disease in the world--but if it has the name of a minority party member on it, the chairman won’t allow it to proceed,” Gallegly acknowledged.

Last year, the Simi Valley Republican introduced legislation to abolish the Interior Department’s Office of Territorial and International Affairs, which is responsible for U.S. territories such as Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Gallegly considers the office a waste of taxpayers’ money, but his proposal became bogged down in the House bureaucracy.

This year, however, he is calling the shots as the chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the territorial affairs office. Gallegly scheduled a hearing on the bill earlier this month--only to learn that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit had suddenly decided to close down the $350-million operation voluntarily.

Babbit aides contend that the elimination of the territorial affairs office was part of the Clinton Administration’s ongoing effort to streamline government. But Gallegly says Clinton aides saw the handwriting on the wall and merely eliminated the office before he did.

He praised the Clinton Administration “for finally seeing the wisdom in something I’ve been advocating for more than a year.”

And despite his victory, he is pushing ahead with his legislation anyway--just to be sure that the territorial affairs office never reappears.

Long-delayed proposals from other Republican lawmakers are expected to advance with newfound speed as well, as the GOP begins to flex its legislative muscles after years of being bound by the Democratic majority.

The 104th Congress has reached the halfway mark in its 100-day effort to advance the Republican “contract with America.” When that is put to rest, lawmakers intend to push forward with proposals that, in the Democrat-controlled Congresses of years past, were not afforded much respect.

In the past, Gallegly’s immigration-reform measures were discarded even before they received a hearing. Now he is chairman of a congressional Task Force on Immigration Reform created by House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). Gallegly’s Immigration Reform Act of 1995, which contains many proposals from years past, is on the fast track.

“As the minority party, it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to move things ahead,” Gallegly said. “Your role is to try to stop things. In the majority, we have an opportunity to move things ahead ourselves.”

The aspect of the system that is most frustrating, Gallegly said, is that the content of lawmakers’ ideas is often less important than their party affiliation.

Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead, the dean of the state’s Republican delegation, knows the frustration.

The Glendale Republican introduced the Biotech Process Patent Protection Act of 1989, the Biotech Process Patent Protection Act of 1991 and the Biotech Process Patent Protection Act of 1993. Each time, the bill fell short of passage.

It was no surprise, then, that Moorhead stepped onto the floor of the House the other day and introduced the Biotech Process Patent Protection Act of 1995.

While Moorhead’s past attempts to increase patent protection for biotechnology innovations were fruitless, the new political realities on Capitol Hill give him his best shot at seeing the bill signed into law.

After all, Moorhead now chairs the intellectual-property subcommittee that will give the measure its first consideration.

“Moorhead has been saying for the last four or five years, ‘Let’s get this passed,’ ” said committee staffer Tom Mooney. “This year, I’d put money on it.”