Valley Transit Panel Bill Advances

The state Senate approved a bill Wednesday calling for a panel of San Fernando Valley residents to plan transit projects for the region, but leaving the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in charge of the purse strings.

The bill, which passed on a 24-8 vote, now advances to the Assembly, where its prospects are uncertain. Lobbyists for the MTA will be working against it, and some Valley business leaders who earlier backed the idea are wavering.

“We’re going to gear up for an all-out campaign of persuasion,” said state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), the bill’s author. “My intent is to give the Valley a voice.”

Hayden’s bill is the leading proposal in the Legislature to afford the Valley some measure of independence in planning bus or rail projects.

Another plan would create a new agency to privatize the MTA’s bus lines in the Valley, but it has stalled in an Assembly committee and is expected to die there after the Friday deadline for bills to advance, according to its author, Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar).

Cardenas’ bill drew heavy fire from the unions representing MTA drivers and mechanics, who said the privatization was an attempt to undermine their contracts.

The unions initially opposed Hayden’s bill, but later consented after he agreed to amend it. Hayden had wanted to split the MTA in two, with one agency running transit in the Valley, and another with responsibility for the rest of the county. But that idea picked up little support.

Under the bill approved Wednesday, an appointed board with 15 voting members would study bus, rail and other transit projects to serve the Valley.

Decisions on whether to pay for the projects would still be up to the MTA board. But Hayden spokesman Rocky Rushing noted that if the county transit agency did not fund them, the Valley board could sue.

State officials estimate that it would cost about $500,000 a year to run the Valley board, and that money would come from the MTA’s annual budget for planning and programming.

MTA officials, who have said Hayden’s bill unfairly interferes with countywide planning, warned that the battle isn’t over.

“We will work to defeat it in the Assembly,” MTA spokesman Ed Scannell said.

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Still unclear is what position the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. will take. A VICA representative recently spoke in favor of the bill at a committee hearing.

Other members of the influential association, however, have been asking Hayden to amend it to allow creation of an agency to contract bus operations to private companies.

Los Angeles city officials are preparing to ask the MTA to establish such an agency on its own. Consultants to the transit agency are examining the financial and legal impact of privatization, and are expected to report back to the MTA board next month.