Contentious Issues Greet Lawmakers

After a short break, California’s bitterly divided Legislature returns today to the sweltering midsummer heat of Sacramento with little prospect of agreement on most major statewide issues or even minor housekeeping details.

As lawmakers were poised to come back, some already were saying they should call it quits by Aug. 23 and others were saying they should tough it out until the end of the month.

But that disagreement probably will wind up as a minor squabble, especially now that lawmakers are faced with the task of implementing provisions of the far-reaching federal overhaul of welfare.

Congress last week approved the comprehensive welfare bill, which replaces the federal guarantee of cash payments to the poor with block grants to the states. President Clinton has said he will sign the legislation.

Even before welfare emerged as a hot issue, lawmakers were ready for battles on several high-profile proposals, including overhaul of the three-strikes sentencing law, placement of bonds for new prisons and schools on the November ballot, possible restrictions on same-sex marriages and creation of an earthquake insurance authority.

“Pretty much every issue is in play,” said John Nelson, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove).

Whether lawmakers will have time this month to craft compromises on these matters plus tackle welfare reform is up in the air.

“I think it could be done, but I don’t know if there’s a willingness from the [Democratic] side to seriously sit down and discuss” welfare reform, said Assemblyman Tom J. Bordonaro Jr. (R-Paso Robles), who carried welfare legislation earlier this year on behalf of Gov. Pete Wilson.

The Legislature’s top Democrat has urged caution on welfare. “There are some who think we ought to totally revise the California welfare system in the 15 days remaining in the California legislative session,” said Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward). “That would probably be difficult.”

Lockyer said it is possible that some narrowly tailored welfare proposals could be debated in coming weeks. In his view, however, more far-reaching changes should be shelved until a high-level, bipartisan task force is established to assess what needs to be done.

Among the major issues pending are:

* Three strikes. The GOP will attempt to revive legislation limiting judges’ power to show leniency in three-strikes sentencing cases. Last month, a state Senate committee rejected the measure by Senate Republican Leader Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove).

* Earthquake insurance. State Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush again will attempt to persuade the Legislature to create his state earthquake insurance authority. Quackenbush says the state-run agency is needed because California homeowners are finding it difficult to buy affordable earthquake insurance.

* The California Constitution. Efforts will be made to breathe new life into proposals that the California Constitutional Revision Commission says would make state and local government more efficient and accountable. The commission’s recommendations have encountered a lukewarm response in the Capitol and it appears unlikely that any will be placed on the November ballot.

* Bridges. Lawmakers will debate whether to divert state highway funds or bridge tolls to pay for earthquake retrofitting of San Francisco Bay Area toll bridges. Caltrans now estimates the cost at $2 billion--triple the original cost, reviving a feud between northern and southern lawmakers.

Lockyer is adamantly opposed to the use of toll revenues, while Los Angeles legislators just as firmly object to the use of highway funds because that would leave almost nothing for highways in Los Angeles.

Wrangling over legislation will take place against the backdrop of conflicting priorities. Both national political conventions, for example, will be held this month and many lawmakers don’t want to miss the hoopla.

At the same time, legislators will be busy staging at least two dozen Sacramento campaign fund-raisers, including a Hawaiian-style luau and a reception by Assemblywoman Paula Boland [R-Granada Hills] featuring cigars and brandy.

With term limits forcing many members into retirement, lawmakers will be conducting a series of testimonials for such departing colleagues as veteran state Sen. Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield), criticized by some lawmakers earlier this year for claiming that a “white man’s citizenship” shielded him from federal income taxes.

The ceremonies, however, will not divert lawmakers from hundreds of bills still pending. Both parties will try to use some of those votes in campaign advertising, either to promote their own candidates or embarrass their opponents.

In fact, the election won’t be far from the minds of most members of the Legislature, where the Democrats control the Senate and Republicans maintain a narrow majority in the Assembly.

Pringle and Assemblyman David Knowles (R-Placerville) noted the GOP’s narrow margin in the lower house in an invitation to an Aug. 21 fund-raiser soliciting special interest lobbyists for up to a $7,500 contribution.

“Republican control of the state Assembly hinges on a slim, one-vote margin,” according to the appeal. “It is imperative that we expand our Republican majority if the type of legislative leadership that we exhibited this year is to be continued into 1997 and beyond.”

Not to be outdone, Lockyer on the same night is hosting “Bill’s End of Session BBQ” at $75 a person, with sponsorships available for $5,000.

“I am excited about throwing a party which celebrates the end of an exciting legislative year and also greets the beginning ‘Fall Classic’--and I’m not talking baseball,” Lockyer said in his pitch to lobbyists.

With the election just three months away, legislators are anxious to return to their districts to campaign and trumpet their accomplishments. Staff members say that’s why they expect their bosses to leave town by Aug. 23. Lockyer, however, said that getaway date hinges on “on how the work is progressing.”

So far, the two-year session clearly has had a split personality.

This year, even though the current state budget was signed two weeks late, there were relatively few of the disruptions that have marked the budgetary process in the recent past. The $63-billion spending plan contained $771 million to reduce class sizes in kindergarten through third grades in public schools.

Also, lawmakers last month authorized a statewide vote on a $995-million water bond measure that Wilson hailed as “truly historic legislation.”

Legislators on both sides of the aisle tout these accomplishments but have much less to say about the 1995 session.

It was marked by a revolving-door speakership, starting with longtime Speaker Willie Brown, who stepped down but engineered the ascension of his first two successors, both Republicans--Doris Allen and then Brian Setencich.

Last December, the flamboyant Brown was elected mayor of San Francisco. Within weeks, Pringle assumed the speaker’s job.

Assemblyman Bordonaro said the two-year session will always be remembered for Brown’s farewell. “My constituents still talk about the fall of Willie Brown. That’s what people remember.”

Times staff writer Virginia Ellis contributed to this story.