Sacramento Youth Culture

When Fabian Nunez is sworn in today as speaker of the California Assembly, he will be one of the youngest leaders of that body in modern times and the most inexperienced in legislative service. The 37-year-old Los Angeles Democrat is in his first term in the 80-member house, where the speaker’s job once was considered the state’s second most powerful, after the governor’s. But for all his youth and greenness, Nunez has a unique opportunity to rescue the Assembly from the dysfunction of bitter partisan politics, distrust and inability to even debate the state’s major problems.

Why Nunez? And why now, when the four previous leaders were in the post an average of less than two years, barely long enough to learn it, before being forced from the Assembly by term limits?

As a freshman, Nunez could serve four years as speaker. In recent years, members could ignore a speaker with little fear of punishment, such as loss of a committee assignment or fundraising help. Just wait a year for the next speaker. And although relatively inexperienced, Nunez honed his political skills as political director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Assembly Republicans also have a fresh young leader, Kevin McCarthy, 39, of Bakersfield. Like Nunez, he comes to the job with no arrows sticking out from old Assembly political wars. Both have expressed a desire for a more civil dialogue and for more respect among members.

The presence of Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger in the governor’s office changes the dynamic in the Legislature. Majority Democrats must negotiate in good faith with GOP members rather than hold out the threat of a gubernatorial veto.

Nunez should make a bipartisan start by streamlining the Assembly’s bloated committee structure:

There are 29 standing committees and 69 select committees, each with staff members, not to mention three “special” committees and 11 joint committees.

There are more committees than members. Some members serve on seven or eight committees, often with conflicting hearing schedules. They cling to the system because, for example, the 26-member Government Organization Committee offers fundraising clout among special interests such as tobacco and horse racing. And virtually everyone wants to be on the 25-member Appropriations Committee because of its influence on spending.

Legislation clogs up in the committee pipelines, especially late in the year when lawmakers are rushing to meet deadlines for getting bills passed. The result is the most superficial of hearings and bills moved along the line without any discussion in depth.

Nunez and McCarthy have a rare opportunity to salvage the state Legislature, building on the recent success of outgoing Speaker Herb Wesson in negotiating the massive debt bond and balanced-budget deal with the governor. The other 78 Assembly members, and 36 million Californians, should cheer efforts toward this goal.