Gridlock Gives Way to Teamwork in Legislature

Deeply fractured along party lines, the Legislature opened its 1996 session amid dire predictions of open warfare and the same sort of gridlock that marked last year’s session.

But it ended in a marriage of convenience between the Republican-controlled Assembly under Speaker Curt Pringle and the Democratic-controlled Senate under President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer.

When the Legislature wrapped up the session early Sunday, the two leaders could cite a few far-reaching achievements: $1 billion to reduce the size of public school classes; legislation to deregulate electrical utilities in hopes of lowering rates, and a bill making it easier for homeowners to buy earthquake insurance.

These measures, hammered out in bipartisan fashion, will allow politicians in both parties to trumpet their achievements to voters come November. In particular for the new Assembly Republican majority, these bills demonstrated its ability to compromise and keep the machinery of government working.

Coming on the heels of 1995--and what Pringle has called the most tumultuous legislative year of the century--even a modest degree of accommodation was unexpected.

Pringle, a staunch Orange County conservative, was elected speaker in January. Against expectations, he found common ground with Lockyer, the consummate Bay Area liberal.

“I think that this year will be measured by the successes that came about from compromise and working together,” Pringle told his colleagues minutes before he adjourned the Assembly for the year. “The ones we highlight certainly will never be described as pure Democrat or pure Republican . . . but the product of a team effort.”

Absent from that effort for the first time in more than 15 years was former Democratic Speaker Willie Brown, who resigned from the Assembly earlier this year after being elected mayor of San Francisco.

Also on the sidelines, at least for part of the year, was Gov. Pete Wilson. He reengaged in the legislative rough-and-tumble when he pushed for the class-size reduction reflected in the state budget. Critics say Wilson was otherwise detached until the end of the session, a detachment prompted by his unsuccessful presidential campaign.

Wilson’s advisors have a different view of the governor’s role, saying that many of the accomplishments that Pringle and Lockyer are bragging about originated in the governor’s administration.

Other legislative successes stamped by Pringle and Lockyer include cutting corporate taxes by $279 million and placing a $1-billion water bond on the November ballot.

But there were some important bills that stalled in the Legislature. Lawmakers rejected proposals that would have made it easier for the San Fernando Valley to secede from the city of Los Angeles, and they were unable to put school construction bonds on the ballot.

Still, the accomplishments symbolize a turnaround from a year ago, when work ground to a halt in the often contentious, nearly evenly divided 80-member Assembly.

“I think the Legislature has exceeded the expectations of many,” said Timothy A. Hodson, director of the Center for California Studies at Cal State Sacramento.

“There were those Cassandras who thought that with a large number of first- and second-term legislators because of term limits . . . that the Legislature would prove totally dysfunctional this year. But its ability to act in the area of utility deregulation and reduction of class size . . . is an indication that it is a functioning body.

“You may not be able to give it an A,” Hodson said, “but it certainly deserves a passing grade.”

In a rush of self-congratulation, Pringle described the year as a success even though the Senate rejected many Assembly bills.

“We shouldn’t just focus on what we didn’t accomplish. Look at the final result,” Pringle said. “We got a tax cut, reduced class sizes, did the earthquake legislation. . . . We demonstrated that we can find consensus on important issues.”

Pringle was the fourth Assembly speaker in a year but the first elected on the strength of GOP votes. In 1995, Brown, who served a record 14 1/2 years as speaker, managed to hold onto power although Democrats had lost a majority in the Assembly. Eventually, he stepped down but engineered the elections of two Republican successors: allies Doris Allen of Cypress and Brian Setencich of Fresno.

In January, Pringle-led Republicans toppled Setencich and elected the Garden Grove lawmaker as speaker.

GOP lawmakers initially talked about pressing a “contract with California,” but Democrats blasted that as an extremist agenda, citing proposals such as a bill to allow paddling of children. Talk of the “contract” disappeared, even as the proposals lived on.

Faced with their own changed realities as a minority party in the Assembly, some Democrats sought to advance a new, pragmatic stance to overhaul some environmental legislation--an anathema in previous years. Half a dozen moderate Democrats late Saturday provided the margin of victory in the Assembly for a bill that would make it harder to prosecute some water pollution cases.

Assembly Democratic Leader Richard Katz of Sylmar bemoaned efforts to relax environmental laws and maintained that most of his caucus fought to preserve clean air and water standards.

Katz, who succeeded Brown as Democratic leader, acknowledged that his members had a rude awakening after they lost majority status and Brown, a skillful fund-raiser and parliamentary tactician, departed.

Still, Katz hailed the year as a success because Democrats played good defense, blocking GOP attempts “to implement their extremist right-wing agenda.” He said, however, that there was also bipartisan cooperation because, with an improved state economy, there is more money in the state treasury.

That made it easier for lawmakers to set aside $1 billion to cut primary grade classes to 20 students--an action both sides hail as a key achievement.

Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg (D-Sacramento) said the governor “had an impact” on the class-size negotiations, in contrast to some other issues in the last year.

“Pete’s pretty much been out of the fray,” Isenberg said.

Lockyer expressed pride in the way that he and Pringle cooperated on class sizes and other issues.

“What I heard a lot of people saying . . . is that this is the most successful year maybe in memory with absolutely no involvement of the governor,” Lockyer said in a Capitol corridor interview. “It’s like Pringle, Lockyer, etc. but it isn’t the governor anywhere.”

Later, Lockyer softened his view, saying the governor deserved some credit too.

Criticizing the state’s chief executive in the heat of a session is not unusual. Wilson’s predecessor, Gov. George Deukmejian, was often accused by Democrats of taking a hands-off approach to shaping legislation, instead waiting to decide whether to sign or veto legislation.

In the past, Wilson seemed to enjoy a lively give-and-take with Brown, with whom he had served in the Assembly.

But the governor’s critics say he missed an opportunity to provide more leadership this year, especially to implement recommendations of his constitutional revision commission or in negotiations on whether to divert state highway funds or bridge tolls to pay for earthquake retrofitting of San Francisco Bay Area toll bridges. Those issues remain unresolved.

Wilson did speak out forcefully in June when the California Supreme Court dealt a blow to the tough three-strikes sentencing law by ruling that judges have the power to spare defendants lengthy sentences by overlooking prior convictions.

The governor immediately blasted the decision and promised to help pass amendments to restore tougher sentencing mandates. Those efforts failed in the Legislature.

Overall, Sen. Ken Maddy (R-Fresno) agreed that the lame-duck governor was more detached from the legislative process as he recovered from his failed presidential bid.

“One of the problems he’s concerned about is how he came out of the presidential [campaign] and had to regroup. I look for him to be extremely involved in the next couple of years,” Maddy said.

One of Wilson’s pet issues--welfare reform--is now on the front burner as a result of the sweeping federal overhaul.

While lawmakers are not scheduled to return to Sacramento until January, Wilson could call them into special session sooner to grapple with how the state plans to get people off welfare and into jobs.

Wilson’s staff objects to any suggestion that the governor has been on the sidelines.

“We are very effective in getting things done,” said Wilson’s press secretary, Sean Walsh. “You don’t need to go out and beat your chest” on every issue.

Besides classroom size, Walsh and others cited other recent major initiatives--such as electrical deregulation--in which the governor and his top advisors played key roles.

Members of the Wilson team, who spoke on condition of anonymity, painted a picture of an actively engaged governor, saying that early Saturday they had 20 phone messages from lawmakers, many wanting to hammer out last-minute compromises on pending legislation.

On Saturday night, they said Wilson shared a glass of wine with departing lawmakers and thanked them for their service.

Although the two-term chief executive was not as visible as in the past, one aide said: “He is making the trains run.”

Times staff writer Carl Ingram contributed to this story.

* LAST-MINUTE BILLS: Legislature approves flurry of measures as session ends. A3

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Legislative Highlights

Among the the most high-profile measures considered during the just-concluded 1996 session of the legislature:

LEGISLATION: CLASS SIZE

KEY PROVISIONS: Nearly $1 billion was set aside to reduce class sizes in kindergarten through third grade to 20 students per teacher. The historic reform represents the largest single infusion of money for school reform in the past decade. APPROVED.

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LEGISLATION: ELECTRICITY

KEY PROVISIONS: Legislation to deregulate the electrical industry, phase out monopolies held by California’s three largest utilities, and open the way for competition in the delivery of electrical power. APPROVED*

****

LEGISLATION: CHEMICAL CASTRATION

KEY PROVISIONS: Leading a nationwide push for tougher sex crime laws, a controversial measure would require “chemical castration” of repeat child molesters. APPROVED*

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LEGISLATION: QUAKE INSURANCE

KEY PROVISIONS: A bill to create a state earthquake insurance authority to set rates, provide a uniform earthquake insurance policy for homeowners and oversee payouts from earthquake damage. APPROVED*

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LEGISLATION: TAXES

KEY PROVISIONS: A $279-million tax over three years, primarily for high-tech industries, airlines, multinational corporations, aerospace manufacturers and start-up companies that gross less than $1 million. Also brings California tax policy into conformity with federal law, boosting state taxes by $202 million over three years to many of the same companies affected by the tax cut. APPROVED*

****

LEGISLATION: VALLEY SECESSION

KEY PROVISIONS: Bills to set the stage for the San Fernando Valley to secede from Los Angeles. It allows for a citywide vote of the issue. DEFEATED.

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LEGISLATION: THREE STRIKES

KEY PROVISIONS: A proposal to limit judges’ power to show leniency in three-strikes sentencing cases. DEFEATED.

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LEGISLATION: SCHOOL BONDS

KEY PROVISIONS: Lawmakers launched a drive to place rival school bond proposals on the November ballot. One was a $2 billion effort, while the other sought nearly twice that much for school construction. DEFEATED.

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LEGISLATION: GAY MARRIAGE

KEY PROVISIONS: Proposals to prohibit California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. DEFEATED.

* Subject to governor’s signature

Researched by Times reporters.