March 21, 2006

In January, Gov. Schwarzenegger launched the legislative year with a call for massive state bond investment in California's schools, highways, levees and water supply.

After weeks of negotiations and hearings, cooperation between Democratic legislators and the governor created a public works investment package that added affordable housing, parklands and mass transit to the governor's original proposal but for a considerably reduced price tag.

Unfortunately, the Legislature this past week failed to approve any part of that bond package for the June ballot. The Assembly did approve an education and levee bond package. However, the Senate did not agree.

Missing the deadline for June was not for a lack of effort. It was very intense at the Capitol throughout the process. In the days and hours before the final vote, I was deeply involved in numerous negotiation sessions with the governor and various legislators. And it seemed as if every lobbyist within 100 miles was in the Capitol advocating for a position on the bond package, adding to the challenge.

I am disappointed the bond package didn't move ahead.

California had a big opportunity to address the additional 9 million people the governor projected to live in the state in 20 years. We need the investments the bond would have provided in affordable housing, mass transit, levee protection, water development, roads, natural resources and schools.

The defeated bond was also a very "green" bond.

It would have provided for enviro-friendly school facilities, emission retrofits for school buses, air quality mitigation, additional parks, farmland preservation, and water quality improvements for smaller, failing water systems.

So what happens now?

There is potential that a bond package could go on the November ballot, but that would be very difficult because the governor's race will be on the ballot at the same time and the politics surrounding that will present a challenge.

The fact that the governor and Assembly Democrats came to agreement, yet the governor couldn't deliver any votes among Assembly Republicans, bodes poorly for getting a good bond package for November.

Though I am disappointed the bond package will not be on the June ballot, I will continue to work with Assembly Speaker Nunez and my legislative colleagues to see if we can do something that provides a real investment in California's future.

Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, represents the Monterey Peninsula. He chairs the Assembly Budget Committee as well as the Infrastructure Bond Conference Committee.