Hearings Begin Today

In the Senate and Assembly , hearings begin today on the governor's various infrastructure bonds. Staffers have described the process as "three-dimensional chess" as progress in made in policy committees, changes may be adopted in conference committee, and big issues with be hustled over to occassional Big 5 meetings. That is Capitol jargon for really really hard for the press to figure out what is going on. But the press has picked up that there are real concerns with the bond package. Just look at the top of Rough&Tumble where a slate of stories cover the issue. Today there are several hearings. At 2pm the Assembly looks at the flood management bonds (Room 447). The Senate does the same at 9:30 in room 112. The Senate begins hearings on the court infrastructure bonds at 1:30 (Room 4203) and the transportation bond at 1:30 as well (Room 3191). I wrote about the likely showdownin that hearing in today's Capitol Weekly. The issue of how transportation projects are prioritized, and which ones would receive new bond money, will be among the most contentious debates over the transportation bond. That debate officially begins today, when the Senate Transportation Committee begins informational hearings about the bonds. At the center of debate is the Schwarzenegger proposed centralization of project-choosing authority, a shift, administration officials argue, that is necessary to fast-track the most important projects in the state. Under current law, three-quarters of any new capital expenditures in the state transportation system are determined by regional transportation agencies, through the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), with the remaining quarter determined by CalTrans. Democrats, local government officials, and even some Republicans are balking at the governor's proposal to have administration officials--not local officials or legislators--control the purse strings of billions in proposed new transportation bonds. And tommorrow, Assemblyman Gene Mullin, a Democrat, will hold a hearing asking the question, "Should housing be included in the infrastructure bond?". I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that Mullin's answer is yes, particularly considering he is the chair of the Housing and Community Development Committee. Let the bond politicking begin!