[Editor’s Note: Mr. Rice is City Hall’s lobbyist in Sacramento.]
Suspense
Dateline Sacramento — Today is the most significant moment to date as the Legislature crawls toward the end of the session.
The Senate and the Assembly Appropriations committees are set to take up their respective suspense files. As you know, the vast majority of all bills wind up being caught in the suspense file web….this repository is often called the gravesite of legislation as the majority of bills that get killed or significantly amended during the legislative session are stopped there.
Several bills of interest to local control are in either the Senate or the Assembly's suspense file. We will provide a rundown to you this evening as to what measures will still be active and considered a threat for the remainder of 2011. In many respects, today sets the table for legislative action for the next 2½ weeks.
Rumors
AEG
One of the larger issues that is being worked on in the Capitol, but has yet to receive a bill number, is a CEQA exemption for downtown L.A. in their development of a conference/stadium facility. We have not seen any actual language, but the representatives for AEG have been making the rounds of the Capitol on a daily basis seeking support from legislators. Interestingly enough, if you recall, Majestic Realty…a major player in the NFL stadium and that was successful last year in getting some exemptions specifically for the proposed NFL stadium….is making the rounds opposing the efforts by AEG. Why, we don't know. But when/if the AEG proposal gets dumped into a bill, we expect a lot of interest and attention to the matter.
Tribes
As you may recall, Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) gutted and amended AB 742 on the Aug. 16 to help a particular Indian tribe in some matters with a local government over a particular site. Tribes, labor and the major business organizations were all vested in this bill, with many in support…and equally as many in opposition. This bill passed the Senate Natural Resources Committee this week on a unanimous vote, but then word got out that the measure would not move for the remainder of this year. That said, there is still 2½ weeks to go before the Legislature must shut down…and anything can, and usually does, happen.
Vernon
The State Senator who represents the city of Vernon, Kevin de Leon, who once was a co-author of AB 46, has officially backed away from supporting the measure. He now wants to continue to work with the city and others in enacting reform measures. Sen. De Leon has been a player in the Capitol during his tenure. His public support for an alternative to the Speaker's two bills regarding Vernon are a major blow to the Speaker's efforts.
Mr. Rice may be contacted at tony@riceenglander.com
