BOARD MEETING DATE: October 10, 1997 AGENDA NO. 32
REPORT:
Legislative Committee
SYNOPSIS:
The Legislative Committee held its regular meeting on Friday, September 19, 1997. The next Legislative Committee meeting is Friday, October 24, 1997, at 8:30 a.m. in Conference Room CC8.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Receive and file this report.
Richard Alarcón, Chairman
Legislative Committee
Attendance
Richard Alarcón, Legislative Committee Chairman, and Committee members James Silva (V. Chair), Michael Antonovich and Nell Soto were present. Committee
member Roy Wilson was absent.
Status of 1997 Legislation
A summary list was provided. Staff reported that all air quality bills recently followed by AQMD went to the Governor except AB 278 (Escutia), the Children’s Environmental Health Protection Act of 1997. The latter had substantial opposition and fell two votes short of passage. Assemblymember Escutia is expected to pursue passage next year. Consistent with past practice, letters were sent to the Governor for all bills on which the District had an established position. AQMD is seeking a veto on just one measure: AB 999 (Thomson) which exempts cities below 100,000 population from the enhanced smog check program. The Air Resources Board is seeking vetoes for two additional smog check bills: SB 42 (Kopp) expanding the older car exemption, and SB 772 (Johannessen) prohibiting visual and functional inspections under certain circumstances. The Governor has 30 days from receipt of each bill to sign, veto or allow the measure to become law without his signature. (Attachment 1)
Report and Recommendations on AQMD Federal Advocacy Program
As requested at the previous Legislative Committee meeting, staff provided a report on federal advocacy including recommendations for improvement (Attachment 2). Staff emphasized that Congress is unlike the State Legislature. Federal air quality bills are years apart and no single bill is heard unless a committee agrees to take it up. As a result, most activity occurs within the federal bureaucracy in one committee or another, in bilateral negotiations between U.S. EPA and California, or through the federal rulemaking process. Staff currently use all the monitoring and access points available to them in furthering the AQMD’s objectives, whether that is continued funding through the U.S. EPA 105 grants, flexibility in meeting federal mandates or other goals.
Councilman Alarcón inquired how the Board kept track of federal interactions and how the AQMD’s effectiveness in communicating at the federal level was evaluated.
Staff responded that most issues are resolved through routine communications; those that are not are elevated to the Governing Board for attention and action. Expressing concern that federal advocacy efforts may not be fully coordinated or consistent, Councilman Alarcón made the following recommendations:
Barry Wallerstein, Acting Executive Officer, responded that an internal reorganization plan is being developed and will be before the Board in 30 days. Dr. Wallerstein also committed to expand the federal advocacy report at the next Legislative Committee meeting. Finally, Dr. Wallerstein reported that AQMD Chairman Bill Burke had expressed a separate concern to him on this topic. He was concerned that the District pursue all available federal funding to meet its continuing and expanded mandates. Responding to the last point, Councilman Alarcón suggested that "grantsmanship" be added to the duties of the AQMD’s legislative staff.
Supervisor Silva expressed concern about expanding the federal advocacy program given the AQMD’s current budget constraints. As an alternative, he recommended that the AQMD rely on CARB and Governor Wilson’s administration instead of hiring its own Washington, D.C. lobbyist. Supervisor Silva also reported CARB Chairman John Dunlap’s concern that the AQMD and state board are not fully coordinated on legislative matters. Barry Wallerstein responded that staff is planning a management retreat with CARB in the near future and indicated he would be in Sacramento on September 25 and would speak with Chairman Dunlap about his coordination concerns.
Proposed Legislation to Clarify Term of AQMD Board
At the August 8, 1997, Governing Board meeting, a legal question arose as to whether the chair was a fixed term or pleasure appointment. To prevent future conflicts in interpretation, Councilmembers Nell Soto and Richard Alarcón recommended that state law be clarified to read that the Chair serves at the pleasure of the Board. Staff then prepared clarifying language and searched for a legislative vehicle for same. Catherine Witherspoon reported back that the end-of-session effort was not successful and that key legislators’ concerns about the AQMD need to be addressed before the same bill is attempted next year. (Attachment 3)
Councilman Alarcón stated the language was for clarification only, and that the AQMD should not have to spend a lot of time on this issue. He also commented that doing the bill at the end-of-session may have attracted more negative attention than if it went through the normal process. Ms. Witherspoon concurred with that assessment. Councilman Alarcón indicated he would meet with Assemblymember Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey), Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, and asked that the Committee come back to this issue at a later date. Councilwoman Soto stated that if legislators have concerns about this issue, we need to do a better job of addressing member concerns and explaining AQMD’s position.
Other Business/Public Comments
There were no public comments.
Ethnic Community Advisory Group
Attached for your information are the Ethnic Community Advisory Group minutes for the August 13, 1997, meeting. (Attachment 4 )
1. Legislative Status Report
2. Report and Recommendations on AQMD Federal Advocacy Program
3. Proposed Legislation to Clarify Term of AQMD Board Chair
4. Ethnic Community Advisory Group (August 13, 1997, minutes)
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