Judgment day for sales tax bill tomorrow

Thursday is the big day: The state Senate's Appropriations Committee will decide to move AB 2321 to the full Senate floor or they'll keep it in the suspense file and kill it.

For those who like their transportation news in English, here is what that means: The fate of the state bill that would authorize local officials in Los Angeles County to place a half-cent sales tax increase on the Nov. 4 ballot will be decided in the Appropriations Committee.

The sales tax, proponents say, would raise $30- to $40-billion in revenues over the next three decades and provide funding for an extension of the subway, the Expo Line to Santa Monica, the Gold Line to Azusa and perhaps beyond, local monies for cities to improve their roads and transit, as well as many other projects.

But it hasn't been an easy road to get the sales tax on the ballot. Attentive readers may recall that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board in late July approved an ordinance that would put the sales tax hike before voters. But in order for that ordinance to take effect, the state Legislature must approve 2321 the companion bill.

Of course, there have already been noteworthy developments. Namely, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday refused to muster the support to put the sales tax on the regular ballot. The MTA has said it will sue to force that to happen.

All that doesn't matter if the state bill dies. A hearing Monday was delayed until tomorrow because, in part, two members of the committee -- Senators Gil Cedillo and Jenny Oropeza -- are still unhappy with the bill. Cedillo (shown in the photo with former state Sen. Rico Oller) wants the bill to include language that guarantees a 710 tunnel project would get funds and Oropeza wants the same for improvements to the Green Line, namely extending it to the airport.

The sponsor of AB 2321, Assemblyman Mike Feuer, told me this afternoon that "I'm very optimistic that the Senate Appropriations Committee will pass this bill along to the [Senate] floor and very soon the governor will have the opp to sign the bill."

On that point, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday said that he would not sign any more bills until the Legislature solves its impasse over the budget deficit. That's one potential complication.

Now, back to Cedillo's and Oropeza's issues with the state bill. Here's the problem: the state bill lists 17 projects or other items that must be included in the MTA's ordinance. The MTA's ordinance, in section 16.2, also lists those projects and says they must be included in the state bill.

The problem? It's too late to change the MTA ordinance, which must be submitted to the county registrar by Friday. So it's a time issue. The MTA board isn't scheduled to meet again until September. It's not clear if the board could together by Friday, if necessary, and whether they have authority to change the ordinance at that point anyway.

Oropeza declined an interview request through spokesman Ray Sotero. "They are still working on it," Sotero said, in reference to the bill. "There are many things she likes about the bill. She has to wait to see a final version."

I'm still waiting to hear back from Cedillo. If I do, I'll update this post later. Either way, we'll be covering the meeting here at the Bottleneck Blog tomorrow. You can also watch a webcast of the Appropriations Committee on the California Channel website.

--Steve Hymon

Cedillo photo: Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Oropeza photo: Robert Durell / LAT