Posted on 03/09/2006 6:39:01 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders on Thursday scrambled to try to put together a massive public works bond deal in time to make the June ballot.
"We are very, very close to coming to an agreement," Schwarzenegger said, emerging briefly from his office. "We have some hurdles still to overcome and some obstacles to overcome, but I have great hopes."
He said negotiations might stretch through the weekend. The Senate's leader, meanwhile, said his house might vote on a bond bill Thursday night, even if a deal wasn't reached.
"That's my intention...," said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland. "The deadline has been set. The governor has said we have a crisis here with our levees. We have to meet that crisis. It has to be on the June ballot. I agree with him, so we're going to give him something."
Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Tustin, said there was "nothing to vote on" because there was no deal.
But Democrats would only have to get the votes of two of the Senate's 14 Republicans to put together the two-thirds majority needed to pass a bond measure.
Approval of a bond bill by the Senate would put pressure on the Assembly, where at least six Republican votes would be needed to get to a two-thirds majority.
Secretary of State Bruce McPherson had set Friday as the cutoff date for lawmakers to add bond measures to the June ballot. On Wednesday, however, he said there was some flexibility in the deadline, although acting later than Friday "complicates the situation."
Schwarzenegger initially asked lawmakers to approve $68 billion in bonds to help pay for highway construction, levee repairs, new schools, reservoirs, prisons, courthouses and certain other public works projects.
He later amended his request to ask for another $3.5 billion for levee improvements, although aides said that wouldn't necessarily increase the overall total of his bond package, part of a $222.6 billion, 10-year infrastructure plan.
Democrats offered to approve about $35 billion in bonds that included money for parks, affordable housing and hospital earthquake improvements, as well as more money for public transit than in Schwarzenegger's plan.
"I can't tell you where we are going to end up, with what amount," Schwarzenegger said. "We will meet somewhere in the middle. Everyone has to do a little giving and taking, but we are going in the right direction."
Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders were talking about a bond package that would total about $47 billion.
Schwarzenegger, he said, had agreed to drop funding for prisons and courthouses and to delete a new water fee opposed by Republican lawmakers. Democrats had given up on funding for hospital seismic retrofits, he added.
Nunez said the governor had also agreed to add bonds for affordable housing and to provide more money for public transit.
"I think we are so close to an agreement here that it really is up to the Republicans in the Legislature to decide whether or not they want to help or hurt the governor," Nunez told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Republicans, at least those in the Assembly, want a pay-as-you-go requirement that would earmark a portion of the annual state budget for public works projects, reducing the need to borrow by selling bonds.
They're also pushing for scaled back environmental reviews of infrastructure projects, new reservoirs, a cap on bond debt payments and expanded use of so-called design-build contracting, a step they say would speed up public works projects.
Kevin McCarthy, a Bakersfield Republican who is the Assembly's minority leader, said this week that the Republican caucus was not to blame for the lack of deal so far. He said Republican lawmakers "don't believe in wasting more money."
Schwarzenegger defended his fellow Republicans, saying they have been "very forthcoming and have been very good in the negotiations. They have concerns that are different than the Democrats. ... The key thing is to bring those two together. I think it's totally doable."
Schwarzenegger seized on upgrading the state's aging infrastructure, most of which was built in the 1950s and 1960s, as his major issue for 2006 after his approval ratings tumbled and voters rejected the four initiatives he promoted in last November's special election.
A deal with lawmakers could boost his re-election chances.
A Field Poll conducted last month found that voters favored by more than a 2-1 margin the idea of a big public works bond plan.
But they opposed the governor's plan to use some of the bond funds to build new prisons and renovate courthouses. They strongly favored using bond money for some things he left out of his plan - new parks, affordable housing and seismic retrofitting of hospitals.
Spend, spend, spend -- and of course, who get's the bill???
I'd rather see an initiative calling for abolition of the income tax and cutting all other taxes in half.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Oh, goodie! More parks, rail, and affordable housing!
Tax me some more... kick me again...
Here's another equally transparent scheme:
Just vote NO. The bonds, the Austrian and the initiatives. Just vote NO.
But the real question today is... Are you enjoying your snowstorm???
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