Legislators’ Bills Push Local Issues : Politics: Spirit of harmony in Capitol may improve chances for LAUSD breakup plans, quake insurance guarantees and more.

SACRAMENTO — Buoyed by the promise of a new era of bipartisan cooperation, the San Fernando Valley-area Capitol delegation is pushing an ambitious range of bills to tackle an array of local concerns--from crime to seismic hazards to insurance rip-offs.

The eight Assembly members and five state senators who represent portions of the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas have drawn up nearly 400 bills they want to see signed into law during the 1995-96 legislative session.

If predictions of a new spirit of harmony in the historically fractious Assembly come true, among the bills that could benefit are measures to:

* Help break up the Los Angeles Unified School District.

* Establish a new Valley medical center for rape victims.

* Require the city of Los Angeles to seek community input on its Sherman Oaks redevelopment plan.

In the past, bills like the school breakup measure were hopelessly bottled up in the Democratic-controlled Assembly. This year, however, Republicans have more clout and political power is less lopsided, so such legislation should benefit from a more open hearing.

Local lawmakers are also focusing on finding solutions to problems that linger from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. A chorus of vocal, angry constituents is urging legislators to add new consumer protections for earthquake insurance customers.

“For people in the district who haven’t been satisfied with their damage claims, that issue is a top priority forever,” said state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Van Nuys), who has introduced measures to guarantee the availability of earthquake insurance and to help settle disputes.

The local lawmakers have also set their sights on some high-profile issues, setting the stage for battles over criminal sentencing, environmental protection, gay rights, gambling and concealed weapons.

In the case of gambling, two area lawmakers from opposite ends of the political spectrum are teaming up in an unlikely partnership to bring regulation to the expanding industry.

State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) and Assemblyman Bill Hoge (R-Pasadena) are both carrying bills to create a five-member commission to oversee gaming in California.

While Hayden wants to include prohibitions against gambling interests doling out campaign contributions, Hoge has taken $140,000 in such contributions. Last year Hoge, whose district includes Sunland-Tujunga, authored six bills to benefit racetracks, card clubs or casinos. This year, he has put in five more.

Legislators often carry bills and have a prominent voice on issues stemming from their assignments to policy committees. Hoge, for instance, is vice chairman of the Assembly’s Governmental Organization Committee, a clearinghouse for gambling legislation.

This year, local lawmakers hold leadership posts on panels dealing with crime, insurance, transportation, health, labor and employment, the environment, energy, toxics, the state budget and veterans affairs.

Rosenthal chairs both the Senate’s Insurance Committee and an advisory subcommittee to examine lessons of the Northridge quake.

Chief among his goals, Rosenthal said, is coaxing insurance companies to end their threat to pull out of the earthquake insurance market. The industry is trying to repeal California’s requirement that companies offer the option of earthquake coverage along with their regular homeowners’ policies.

“I want to see that there is a continued availability of earthquake insurance--even if it has a cap, and even if you have an increase in premiums,” Rosenthal said.

The long-range answer, Rosenthal and others believe, is for Washington to set up a federal natural disaster insurance pool. This week Rosenthal plans to accompany California’s legislative leaders on a journey to the nation’s capital to lobby for such a program.

Quake-related measures by Rosenthal include one to free up $5 million in grants for low- to moderate-income residents to strengthen their homes’ earthquake resistance. The modest grants would help pay for such preventive steps as strapping water heaters down and fastening a house to its foundation.

Another bill would require water heaters to be braced, anchored or strapped down whenever a property changes ownership. Others would force school districts to demonstrate compliance with laws requiring earthquake-safety drills. Another would set up a mediation process to help resolve disputes over insurance claims.

Perhaps most significant is a bill that would prohibit insurance companies from canceling or refusing to renew policies while claims are outstanding and homes still stand damaged. Tens of thousands of customers lost their insurance under those circumstances after the Northridge quake.

Rosenthal is also making a second run with a bill to give quake victims an income-tax break. Last year, the Legislature overwhelmingly approved his proposal allowing taxpayers to deduct nearly all of their uninsured losses on state income-tax returns.

But Gov. Pete Wilson denied the tax deduction in a flurry of last-minute vetoes, saying the state had already provided enough tax relief for Northridge temblor victims. A similar measure in Washington failed as well.

Hayden, who sits on the quake subcommittee with Rosenthal, also is resurrecting some seismic safety proposals that fell short of passage last year.

One would require a strengthening of older hospitals’ ability to resist earthquake damage. If the medical facilities failed to meet the tougher new building standards, administrators would be required to notify patients and the public.

A key issue for Hayden is ensuring the safety of children in classrooms where books can fly off shelves, ceiling tiles can drop from above and lighting fixtures can be dislodged in a powerful temblor. One of his bills would require schools to securely fasten such items and make sure that enough emergency supplies are on hand.

He also has proposals to ensure earthquake insurance coverage, clean up the campaign contribution process, protect the state’s natural resources and introduce more hands-on learning in the classroom.

Hayden also has a response to complaints by residents who felt shut out of the city’s decision to establish a community redevelopment zone to facilitate earthquake repair in Sherman Oaks. He has submitted a bill to require municipal officials to seek more input from citizens and business people within such a proposed zone.

He is also bridging partisan differences to team up with Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills) on legislation to lower the number of signatures needed to place the question of breaking up the Los Angeles school district on the ballot. For years, many Valley parents have supported such a move, saying the massive district is too big to solve its problems.

Boland, meanwhile, plans to focus largely on crime and punishment issues in her new role as chairwoman of the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee. As the first Republican to assume that post in years, Boland said she sees a historic opportunity to reverse the committee’s reputation as a naysayer for tough-on-crime bills.

“I keep saying there’s a new sheriff in town, and I’m it,” she said. “We’re going to be able to tighten up some of the laws so we will be able to keep those perpetrators in prison instead of in the revolving door.”

One Boland bill would allow county governments to recoup costs of high-profile trials by charging broadcast outlets for TV feeds of the court proceedings. The measure was inspired by the $2.4-million price tag of the O. J. Simpson trial.

Boland also wants to abolish the office of lieutenant governor because, she says, it is costly and practically useless. She dismisses as baseless Democrats’ charge that this is a strictly partisan measure designed to ease Wilson’s worries over leaving Democratic Lt. Gov. Gray Davis in charge should Wilson run for President.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) is rekindling debate over his domestic partners proposal, which he put on the table again this year after it was vetoed by Wilson last year.

The governor was thought to be responding to election-year pressure from conservatives to squelch the bill because it extended the rights of married people to gay couples. But Katz said the bill is also aimed giving hospital visitation and other legal rights to seniors who live together but cannot afford to marry because they would lose benefits.

Another Katz bill would prevent the city from siphoning off millions of dollars each year from apparent overpayments at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Since 1951, Katz’ office said, the city has transferred $1.5 billion from the DWP to the city’s General Fund, with $122 million being moved from DWP in just the past fiscal year.

“The bill is to stop DWP from ripping off ratepayers in the Valley and the rest of the city,” Katz said. “It’s a priority bill for us.”

Katz is also carrying a bill to allow the state to sue tobacco companies to recoup health care costs California taxpayers have paid to Medi-Cal recipients as a result of tobacco-related illnesses. That measure is expected to come under heavy fire from tobacco lobbyists.

Yet another Katz measure would establish the Valley’s first medical response center for treating and examining victims of sexual assault. The nearest such center now is in Carson, between Torrance and Long Beach. Going to a local hospital has meant encountering long delays and personnel untrained in dealing with the trauma of rape.

Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman (D-North Hollywood), who won a slot as vice chair of the Assembly Health Committee, is carrying a range of health care and family services bills.

Newly elected Assembly members Sheila J. Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) and Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles), who represent portions of the west and southern Valley, have quickly gained a footing in the Assembly, with Kuehl introducing high-profile legislation and Knox winning the chairmanship of the Assembly’s Labor and Employment Committee, a rarity for a freshman.

Knox has a bill to order the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to rank by priority its wish list for future land acquisitions.

Kuehl, the first openly homosexual member of the Legislature, has emerged as an outspoken advocate for gay rights. She introduced a bill to outlaw discrimination against gay and lesbian students who she says are often subject to harassment on campus.

She also has a bill to protect the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area from additional landfills.

This session, the debate over gun owners’ rights will center in large part on a bill co-authored by Assemblyman William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale) to allow a relaxing of the rules for carrying concealed weapons.

Knight wants people he calls law-abiding citizens who pass background checks to be able to carry concealed weapons legally as protection against crime.

Another Knight bill would clear the way for the Castaic Lake Water Agency, a public wholesaler that supplies water to the Santa Clarita Valley, to buy the private Santa Clarita Water Co. The proposed purchase is hotly opposed by many area residents who fear that expanding the water available to the Castaic Lake Water Agency will only clear the way for more development in the region.

In the Antelope Valley, state Sen. Don Rogers (R-Tehachapi) envisions setting up tent encampments for low-security prisoners to ease overcrowding in California’s prisons. He is carrying a non-binding resolution urging the state Department of Corrections to consider this step.

Amid the swirl of proposed new laws is one apparently mindful of the public’s distaste for a growing government.

The measure by Assemblyman James E. Rogan (R-Glendale) would cut in half the number of new bills state senators and Assembly members are allowed to introduce each session. It limits Assembly lawmakers to no more than 25 bills in a two-year session and senators to no more than 30. (The Valley area’s 13 senators and Assembly members have so far drawn up an average of about 30 bills each.)

Rogan has said that he finds the notion of a state Legislature churning out thousands of bills every two years to be “offensive.” He believes voters share his view.

“If people saw what really goes on up here, especially in the last few days--when you’re voting on bills at a clip of about 30 seconds per bill--I think most of them are shocked,” he said. “And if I’m up here, I’m going to do what I can to change it.”