O.C. Lawmakers Upbeat Despite Wilson Veto

Despite Gov. Pete Wilson’s veto of a bankruptcy recovery bill for Orange County, the county’s legislative delegation continued to predict Wednesday that it can overcome mounting obstacles and deliver the same relief in a new measure.

But the veto leaves the proposal--which would shift $70 million a year in sales tax money from bus service to bankruptcy recovery for 15 years--facing an uphill fight against outraged transit officials, developers and even the Los Angeles Democrats who had been the uneasy allies of Orange County’s Republican legislators.

Wilson said he killed the Orange County bailout bill because it included a shift of $75 million a year in transportation tax revenue to ease Los Angeles County’s budgetary woes for the next five years. But he encouraged Orange County to press ahead with its efforts to tap into the tax, which is being used to subsidize public bus transportation.

“I think there’s a basic difference in circumstances between the two counties,” Wilson said Wednesday. “Orange County is in far deeper economic distress.”

Those words aren’t playing well with Los Angeles Democrats. They began the push for the transit tax shift to help their beleaguered county, only to see Orange County lawmakers hitch a last-minute ride on the bill.

In the wake of Wilson’s veto of the bill giving both counties relief, Los Angeles lawmakers now vow that help for Orange County will come only if their county’s requests for substantial aid are answered.

“One thing’s for sure--there will be no help for Orange County without [help for] L.A. County,” said Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar). “The irony is, this started out as an L.A. County proposal. Their proposal was added in. Now they stand to gain everything, and L.A. County is left to go down the toilet. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. . . . The road to helping Orange County runs right through L.A.”

Although Katz said he expects a transit tax shift for Los Angeles County to be dropped in favor of some other relief proposal, state Sen. Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles) said he is willing to work with the Orange County delegation on the tax diversion. Polanco, however, said he staunchly opposes the governor’s idea of giving Orange County $1 billion over 15 years and Los Angeles a onetime diversion of $50 million.

“Fifty million dollars to L.A. is crumbs,” Polanco said. “The governor needs to get real. . . . It will be very hard for any type of Orange County relief proposal, in and of itself, to move given the slap that has been given to L.A. County.”

One thing is certain: Los Angeles lawmakers said they would not support a transit-diversion bill for Orange County only.

State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) said the fates of the two fiscally failing counties must stay married.

“It’s got to be a coalition,” he said. “We’ve got two counties where social services are stricken, and bloated transportation bureaucracies are preserved. Why consider helping one and not the other? It’s not consistent. It’s got to be the two together.”

Orange County lawmakers, meanwhile, were talking as if the glass was half full--and getting fuller.

Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), the chief Orange County backer of the transit-tax diversion, said he was encouraged by Wilson’s comments and believes a compromise with Los Angeles County lawmakers remains possible. Pringle plans to introduce a new version of the bill Aug. 21 that will include provisions for appointing a state trustee, the parameters of which have already been approved in concept by the governor, he said.

“I know the governor supports our effort and our plan, so that’s what we need to move forward on,” Pringle said. “I don’t mind if L.A.’s in there. I’ve already talked today to L.A. legislators who are eager to be a part of something the governor could support. They’ve called me and said, ‘We need to keep this thing going.’ ”

Pringle, who has talked frequently with Wilson in recent days, said a split within the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors--along with Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan’s opposition and warnings from Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority officials that the diversion would cost them millions in federal funds--led the governor to reject the bill.

Despite the setback, Pringle said the unusual alliance between representatives from Los Angeles and Orange counties in Sacramento remains in place.

“It was just a few short weeks ago that those same legislators beat their chest and said, ‘No way. Orange County can sink into the ocean.’ Now, today, they’re saying, ‘We need to be part of their plan.’ I think it’s great that we have allies,” he said. “I think it’s beneficial to work with people who have a commonality of interest, and I believe that we still do with Los Angeles.”

State Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange) said Wednesday he believes the measure failed because Los Angeles legislators crafted the language and failed to get the governor’s nod beforehand. The new bill, he said, should be written by Orange County lawmakers, who have huddled with Wilson’s staff on the issue frequently over the past week.

“Orange County and Los Angeles County’s fates are still intertwined,” Lewis said. “What needs to be done is to sit everybody down together and hammer out a compromise.”

Assembly Speaker Doris Allen (R-Cypress), who had opposed the measure, said she expected a new version of the bailout bill to be introduced, but said it should compete with other recovery plans. She had good words for parts of the so-called Family of Governments plan, under which cities and special districts would jointly fund the purchase of John Wayne Airport and county landfills.

“All of these plans should be developed and moved forward, and then let’s see where the support will come from and how much support,” she said.

Allen called the transit tax diversion a “quickie fix” that had been dreamed up and pushed by three people: Pringle, Supervisor Marian Bergeson and county lobbyist Dennis Carpenter.

The veto now throws the issue back into the Capitol caldron at the worst time of the year. When the Legislature returns, there will be three weeks of session left. That could give a tactical advantage to groups bent on scuttling the bill. And they should be out in force.

Developers, the transportation community, labor unions and air quality advocates were all said to have lobbied the governor against the measure.

“Developers feared it might cut into road development funds and impact them as higher development fees,” said Scott Johnson, chief counsel to state Sen. William A. Craven (R-Oceanside).

OCTA Chief Executive Officer Stan Oftelie said his agency had fought the proposal, which under its analysis actually would have taken $1.9 billion during the proposal’s 15-year life, rather than the $1 billion that legislators said would be intercepted.

“It would have had an extraordinarily negative effect on the 50,000 people a day who rely on bus service,” he said.

Oftelie said OCTA would likely oppose for the same reason future legislation that would divert proceeds of the countywide transportation sales tax over 15 years.

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