Two of Assemblyman Ted Lieu's most ambitious ideas for this year's legislative session have been rejected in the Appropriations Committee.

The committee quashed Lieu's proposal to create a new agency to oversee a Green Line train extension to Los Angeles International Airport. Additionally, the panel held up Lieu's bill to set up a bailout fund for homeowners who default on subprime loans.

A third Lieu bill to ban the use of trans-fatty acids in school lunches also was defeated, though a similar measure that requires school districts to begin to eliminate trans-fats was approved.

"It doesn't matter who gets the credit, as long as the policy gets done," said Lieu, who will become a co-author of the trans-fat bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield.

On each of the other issues, Lieu faced a significant uphill fight.

The Metropolitan Transportation Agency lobbied against creating a Green Line Construction Authority, arguing the new agency would compete for federal funds with other MTA priorities.

"It's premature to move forward with one extension when it hasn't been fully funded," said Michael Turner, government relations manager for MTA.

Two rail lines are under construction now, the Eastside extension of the Gold Line and the Expo Line to Culver City. The MTA is studying several other projects, including extending the Red Line to the ocean and extending the Orange Line busway to Chatsworth.

The MTA is also considering connecting to LAX via the Crenshaw Boulevard corridor. All of those projects are long-term propositions.

"They don't want to lose control," Lieu said. "They've had over a decade to fix this problem. At least now we've brought it to their attention."

Some have suggested funding an extension of the Green Line to the airport through the LAX modernization project, though legal barriers remain to that idea.

As chairman of the Assembly Committee on Banking and Finance, Lieu offered a bill to create a pot of funds to bail out borrowers who have defaulted on subprime loans.

Lieu's bill was among the most aggressive in the nation in addressing the subprime loan issue, but it was a tough sell in a tight budget year. Lieu suggested at one point that voter-approved housing bonds could be used to finance the bailout, which many legislators objected to.

"People thought it would be enormously expensive," Lieu said. "Every time it goes through Appropriations, some bills are going to die."

Lieu noted, however, that four out of his top five legislative priorities made it out of the committee and are headed to the Assembly floor. Those bills would create an initiative on financial literacy, require "green" building standards for commercial properties, create "banking development districts" to establish incentives to open banks in low-income areas, and reduce pollution generated by the state's vehicle fleet 20 percent by 2020.

gene.maddaus@dailybreeze.com