Breaking news update: More on threatened L.A. County sales tax measure

I just got off the phone with Metro spokesman Marc Littman. Bottom line: If you wanted to vote in November to raise the sales tax in L.A. County to fund mass transit, there's a lot going on that could pull the rug out from under the proposal.

The problem, in short, is that two pieces of legislation are required to take the sales tax hike to voters in November. The bigger problem is that because of legislative deadlines, those two pieces of legislation may not agree on how expected sales tax revenues should be spent.

And that could invalidate the whole proposal. The citizenry would be left wondering what exactly they're voting on -- a plan that builds projects A, B and C or one that builds X, Y and Z.

The Metro board, Littman said, is scheduled to vote on a sales tax ordinance on July 24. The state Senate Appropriations Committee hears an accompanying state bill, AB 2321, on Aug. 4. If the committee approves the bill, it still would have to be approved by the full Senate and then reapproved by the Assembly.

The deadline to get the sales tax wording to the county registrar to put on the ballot is Aug. 8.

"If the legislature tinkers with it after our board acts, our board will have to schedule a special board meeting to deal with that, but there may not be enough time," Littman said. "That's where we are. After Aug. 8, it's too late. If [the state legislature] changed it and it doesn't match the ordinance that [the Metro board] adopted and put on the ballot, that's a problem."

As things currently stand, the earliest the state Legislature can approve AB 2321 is Aug. 4, giving the Metro board a potential window of four days tops to make sure the funding plan in their ordinance matches the funding plan in the state bill.

Confused? It gets better.

Littman said that Metro Chief Executive Roger Snoble will soon release a revised expenditure plan that is intended to satisfy politicians who say their part of the county isn't getting its fair share. I'll soon post the current expenditure plans in both bills and try to explain what they mean.

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[Simon]

Not getting it on the ballot would be a disgrace.

These San Gabriel politicians playing hardball are being absolutely ridiculous. There's money set aside for the gold line in the bill, and they can be damn certain that 30 billion dollars over 30 years is not going to all go into one subway for the west side.

The county desperately needs this money. They're playing games with the county's entire future.

[Dana Gabbard]

Voltaire was right: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” This may be our best chance for a generation to pass such a measure. We can't afford to stall it to "get it right".

[BNG]

This is getting ridiculous!!! And the worst part is that the lawmakers at the helm of this debacle, are the lawmakers that were in office when MTA stopped the red line at Western, put in a bus line instead of rail in the Valley, voted down a ballot iniative 6 years ago, are playing footsie with nimbys- well you get the picture. I wish it were as easy as saying- maybe it's time to get rid of the politicians that have been in office for over 30 years.... but maybe that is the only way LA (city and region) will ever grow up and respond the regional needs of its people!

[Morgan Wick]

If the sales tax plan fails, the silver lining could be that it gives Metro more time to make sure they get it right.

[Dana Gabbard]

The problem is until recently Metro was averse to taking advantge of the opportunity AB 314 (the original Murray bill) presented because local sales taxes need a supermajority (2/3) to pass. Various factors including favorable poll numbers and a changing political climate made them re-evaluate that stance.

There is a lot of gamesmanship and posturing going on, but I suspect in the end the various hurtles will be surmounted because everyone has a pet project that only this new tax offers a hope of funding (95814 and D.C. are essentially broke for the time being).

All in all, this is why how public policy is made is often compared to making sausage.