Partisan Politics Buffet Valley Secession Bill

The Assembly bill that would ease the way for the Valley to secede from Los Angeles has become a bargaining chip in a political poker game, and questions were raised Friday about the bill’s survival.

State Senate Democrats, led by President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer, are threatening to kill the bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills), in retaliation for actions taken by Republicans in the Assembly.

While Lockyer insists that he has not made up his mind on the measure’s fate, state Sen. Hilda Solis (D-El Monte) said the Senate leader told a private caucus meeting Thursday that he planned to kill the bill by sending it to the Senate Elections Committee.

Lockyer said Friday that the Republicans who control the Assembly are “acting like kindergartners” by holding various pieces of Senate legislation “hostage.”

“It turns out with bullies the only way is to fight back,” said Lockyer, a Democrat from Hayward. “It may be their pet projects might have to be treated in an aggressive way.”

The Elections Committee chairman, Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), has vowed to block the legislation because he views it as unfair to non-Valley residents of Los Angeles.

Polanco insists that the bill, as amended this week, should be properly sent to his committee in accordance with Senate precedent.

Lockyer, however, said Friday: “It’s a close call. . . . I would hope to have a steady hand on the tiller that respects consistency and precedents.”

Boland, meanwhile, insists there is no basis for such a move.

“This bill has nothing, nothing to do with Elections,” said the Valley Republican. “You would have to have the wildest imagination to send this to Elections.”

At issue is Boland’s controversial legislation that would remove the Los Angeles City Council’s veto power over requests by areas of Los Angeles to split off and form new cities.

This week, her bill cleared the Senate Local Government Committee but was amended to state that any election on whether an area may break away should be consolidated with a general election.

The Rules Committee was expected to consider the bill’s next move on Monday, Boland said. But Los Angeles Legislative Analyst Norm Boyer, who is based in Sacramento, said the bill as amended Wednesday was not prepared in time to make Monday’s committee agenda.

A clerk in Sacramento confirmed that the bill was not listed on the agenda.

If the Elections Committee does not review the bill, it would go directly to the Senate floor.

In a letter to Lockyer on Friday, Boland urged him not to hijack her bill by sending it to the Elections Committee.

“It’s not a political game,” Boland said in an interview. “This bill should be debated on the merits of good public policy, not politics.”

Lockyer said he brought up the bill by name in the caucus meeting Thursday amid complaints from Democratic senators who “were upset at how their bills were handled by the Assembly.”

Instead of voting the bills down on philosophical grounds, the Assembly amended the bills to include the governor’s tax cut measure, which has lost in the Senate three times, Lockyer said. “You can kill a bill, but don’t make it a slave of your philosophy,” Lockyer said.

In particular, Senate Democrats were miffed at the gutting of Solis’ minimum wage bill by loading it with amendments.

Assemblyman Richard Katz of Sylmar, the Democrats’ leader, said Lockyer’s warning should be heeded by Assembly Republicans.

“He’s sending a number of messages,” Katz said. “Boland’s bill is high-visibility and is being heard at the right time. . . . The Senate has very strict adherence to their rules. I can’t recall a bill that has anything to do with elections not going to the Elections Committee.”

Earlier, Boland accused Senate Democrats of playing politics and thwarting the will of the people for personal power.

“Her comments were a bit on the pompous and arrogant side,” Lockyer said. “For Paula Boland to claim no political motivation on her side, only on our side, gives hypocrisy a new name.”