Legislators Scramble for Budget Pork

As lawmakers engage in the contentious process of hammering out California’s next budget, there is a healthy amount of fat to be trimmed from their plans.

Pork fat, that is.

Drizzled throughout the pages of a phone-book-sized document that lawmakers are using to craft the budget are dozens of so-called “members’ requests.”

The requests are made by individual politicians and usually benefit their districts. They range from a $500,000 “forgivable” loan to the Lassen Municipal Utility District to evaluate new energy resources to $2 million for a transit center in Palo Alto.

In political circles, such items traditionally are referred to as pork projects. And around the Capitol, the unspoken but long-standing rule is that lawmakers whose requests make it into the budget are expected to vote for the document, which needs the approval of two-thirds of the members.

Pork projects make up a small but politically important part of the state’s annual budget process. Politicians covet the succulent morsels, which allow them to return home for reelection with proof of their success in Sacramento.

Perennial feel-good favorites include community centers, libraries, museums and wading pools. But this year lawmakers are seeking money to pay for everything from a mariachi museum to a cyber cafe.

One novel project: Assemblyman Ken Maddox (R-Garden Grove) wants $25,000 to replace a marquee at the Gem Theater in downtown Garden Grove, which according to his request poses a safety hazard.

But that’s just the beginning.

Sen. Martha Escutia (D-Whittier) is seeking $246,000 to construct a skateboard park in Montebello. Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) submitted a $1.5-million request to seismically retrofit and renovate a Culver City fire station.

Then there’s the $5-million request by Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) to help expand the UCLA Ocean Discovery Center on the Santa Monica Pier and a $20-million plea by Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo) to preserve and restore artifacts at Hearst Castle.

Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) submitted just one request, which happens to carry a $5.3-billion price tag.

“The reason for this request is simple,” wrote McClintock in his submission. “California’s families are being crushed by the biggest utility rate increase ever imposed in the history of our state.”

To help them cope with rising energy costs, McClintock wants the state to give families rebates.

Other requests are more refined. Assemblywoman Patricia Wiggins, a Santa Rose Democrat who represents the Northern California wine regions, asked for $2.5 million to help build a center that will explore and celebrate American contributions to food and wine.

One submission left little question as to which lawmaker was behind it: $500,000 for the final phase of the Abel Maldonado Youth Center in Santa Maria. The item was among those being sought by Assemblyman Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria).

Assemblyman Paul Koretz, meanwhile, has man’s best friend in mind. Koretz, a West Hollywood Democrat, has asked for $500,000 to help create an animal shelter in West Hollywood.

Depending on who is asked, the Legislature approved requests totaling anywhere from $200 million to more than triple that amount last year. It is money that taxpayer groups say might otherwise have been spent on statewide issues: schools, for instance, or highways.

With the prospect of a $4-billion deficit looming on the state’s fiscal horizon, the amount spent on such projects is expected to be significantly less this year than in previous ones. But neither deficits nor an energy crisis nor the prospect of a wounded economy have stopped lawmakers from asking.

This year, senators have filled five large red binders with their requests, only a small portion of which will be considered by budget negotiators. Assembly members, meanwhile, have filled two huge black binders of their own.