By Nannette Miranda

Apr. 21 - KGO - President Bush does not plan to declare the pre-emptive federal disaster Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sought for California's fragile levees, but he issued an unusual directive letting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers help with urgently needed repairs.

That federal disaster declaration would have quickly opened up the pipeline for additional federal funds. For now, California taxpayers are footing the bill on a federal responsibility.

Despite news the federal emergency declaration on California's crumbling levees will not be coming, Governor Schwarzenegger put on his best face when greeting President Bush this afternoon.

In a rare mover, the President did, however, allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to accept 23 million dollars in state money to start work on some of the 29 critical sites desperately needing repair.

In a statement, the White House said: "The Administration and the State are developing a critical path schedule for accomplishing the levee repair projects as fast as possible."

Lester Snow, CA Dept. of Water Resources Secretary: "It is a good first step and we will work diligently with them over the weekend and early in the week to nail down the details and get absolute commitment for the timeline."

Any money the state fronts on levee repairs would be credited back on future work the sites need, pending Congressional approval.

The President also ordered his Department Secretaries to:

• Expedite plans and prevent any delay in construction.
  
• Expedite the environmental permitting process
  
• And work with the state on cost sharing.
  

The state's Department of Water Resources says it is the permitting process that is crucial, since that normally takes years.

State leaders say they want all permitting done by June 21st, if the repair work is to be done by the next storm season in November.

Lester Snow, CA Dept. of Water Resources Secretary: "It's unacceptable for anything other than a process that results in us being able to complete those erosion sites."))

While the Governor and the President participated in a Silicon Valley forum, Democrats seized the moment to criticize the Republicans lack of leadership.

Assm. Dave Jones, D-Sacramento: "The fact of the matter is we don't have enough money to solve the problem. We need the federal government to help us out. It's nice that he's allowing the state to front the costs of this thing, but it's really a shared responsibility."

It'll take $135 million to repair all 29 critical sites. Critical means there could be a levee failure in the next storm season. The fed's share is more than $50 million, and whether California sees that money hinges on budget action in Congress over the next few weeks.

Copyright 2006, ABC7/KGO-TV/DT.