Oropeza says she's prepared to try to kill sales tax bill if not amended

State Sen. Jenny Oropeza put it in no uncertain terms when I spoke to her late this Friday afternoon: she is prepared to kill the bill that would allow a half-cent sales tax increase to go on the November ballot in Los Angeles County to pay for road and transit projects.

“I said in order for the bill to pass the Senate, it is going to have to contain the Green Line extension,” Oropeza, (D-Long Beach), told me. “They” — Los Angeles County transportation officials — “understood that. They are playing a game of chicken and blaming the Legislature. I am praying to God they do the right thing. I don’t want to see this thing go down either.”

I asked her if she was prepared to try to kill the bill — and any chance of a vote in November. Oropeza firmly answered: “Yes I am.”

There have been plenty of legislative maneuvering in recent weeks as Los Angeles County transportation officials and politicians have scrambled to get the sales tax proposal on the fall ballot, when a huge turnout is expected because of the presidential election.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board last month approved an ordinance calling for the election. That ordinance details how the expected $30- to $40-billion in sales tax revenues would be spent.

Oropeza wants to be sure the work includes extending the Green Line to Los Angeles International Airport. The light rail line, which runs down the middle of the 105 freeway, opened in the mid-1990s and has long been an potent symbol of poor local transportation planning because it skirts the southern end of LAX, but doesn’t actually go near the terminals.

Oropeza said the MTA’s proposed ballot language makes it sound like the connection will be built. But she believes that neither the MTA proposal nor the current state bill, AB 2321, provide enough guarantees.
She wants to insert new language in both documents. MTA officials, however, are hesitant to reopen what has already proven to be a can of worms and could invite a legal challenge if somehow the state bill and ordinance don't match.

“I have been trying to find out from someone why they object to having this particular project in the bill and no one has given me an answer,” Oropeza said. “Now they are claiming it is too late because of the timing with the ballot to effectuate a change in the ordinance.

“We have a documentation to show that’s not true,” she added. “We know it’s not impossible. Yes, they would have to convene another meeting, but they could do it if they wanted to.”

Oropeza has sway in the process. The bill is stuck in the Senate Appropriations Committee, where she is one of four senators from Los Angeles County. While two of the others — Sens. Sheila Kuehl and Mark Ridley-Thomas — are likely to support the sales tax because of the benefits to their districts, both Oropeza and Sen. Gil Cedillo have raised doubts . So it will come down to who the rest of the committee will side with.

Now, as Oropeza said, the bill has become one big game of chicken. And she certainly sounded Friday as if blinking was not an option — even if it means that the sales tax effort dies.

“The transportation wheels have moved way too slowly in the county of Los Angeles and a lot of it has to do with these politics,” Oropeza said. “The losers are the people. I’m not personally responsible for that. I wish I could fix it. It’s extremely frustrating. I have this incredibly important project. It just disappoints me very much.”

--Steve Hymon

photo: Lori Shepler / LAT

Comments

[Lisa]

“The transportation wheels have moved way too slowly in the county of Los Angeles and a lot of it has to do with these politics,” Oropeza said. “The losers are the people. I’m not personally responsible for that..."

This woman -- like SO many of our other politicians -- seems only out for her own turf and power. In the mean time, these folks are totally screwing up any possibility for this area to get decent public transit. So sad, short-sighted, and self-destructive. Like the supposed "activists" in south LA protesting AGAINST light rail due to their fear of at-grade crossings.

On this issue, I think most people are WAY in front of their supposed representatives. But god knows if we'll even have a chance to vote.

[BOB2]

To the questioner,

Compromise is more than trying to hold others hostage for a project, that hasn't even been fully studied yet. Especially one that looks to benefit one developer? This special interest parochialism has been a problem with all of the folks I mentioned. A real consensus and a good compromise requires good faith and a postive commitment to provide decent public transportation. It should not be aboutt childish revenge, contract steering, or schiling for a special interest.

[Stan]

Oropeza is NOT voting to help the interests of her constituents.

Thee-quarters of Oropeza's constituents want improved transportation.

100% want the opportunity to vote.

If she kills the opportunity to let the voters decide - nobody gets anything. 25% of zero is zero - 50% of zero is still zero.

Like it or not - this sales tax is the only chance we have to make things better on our streets and highways.

She is not looking out for anyone's best interests. She is out of touch with the people she represents - which is why she is done.

Stay in school.

[Donny]

BOB2: What if there was a desire to compromise by the Molinas of the world, but Antonio and Zev killed off that discussion and rammed this sales tax through the MTA Board? What's your response then?

[Max]

@Paul:
Are you saying she will lose her re-election because she voted to help the interests of her constituents? I'm willing to bet that this action will be first on her re-election campaign brochures and TV ads. Why would someone living in the 28th District vote against her for trying to get their share of taxes paid?

So basically you want politicians to vote against the interest of their constituents. Interesting logic.

[BOB2]

The failure of those who developed this sales tax proposal to seek to develop a broad consensus was lamentable. Some would rather arrogantly dictate to others out of egotism and grandstanding. Arrogant posturing from westside political operatives, the Mayor, John Fasana, or Gloria Molina, do not lead to effective consensus. All of these people have been acting in a foolish and insincere manner, and it is their amatuerish antics which will have likely doomed this sales tax. Kudos to those who have tried to broker a reasonable compromise, but there is a fundamental lack of wisdom or leadership at the MTA Board. Given the opportunity and the need for better transit, it is a shame such individuals can't act more responsibly?

[lsm]

Ms. Oropeza uses admirable Ben Tre logic in her support for the Green Line extension. Ben Tre was the Vietnamese provincial capital about which USAF Major Chester Brown was so famously quoted as saying, "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it." To his credit, Major Brown was never quoted as trying to deny responsibility for his actions.

[LB]

So - she is planning on killing something to "guarantee" its survival?!? Huh?

[Simon]

What she needs to explain, for me to respect her position at all, is why she doesn't believe what the Metro plan says.

It says funding for an extension to LAX. She says she wants a guarantee, but why is it worth killing the entire sales tax over a guarantee when the project has the support necessary and was placed in the bill. Yes, things could go wrong in the future, things might change, but more likely given the strong support from the state senate the green line to LAX will get built.

It seems to me that she's turning the green line extension's chances from 75 or 80% if the sales tax passes to 0% by killing the bill. And it's not like putting in a guarantee was going to bump those odds up to 100%. Nothing is ever certain when you're cutting up revenue that doesn't exist yet.

Finally, that last bit "I’m not personally responsible for that" is, frankly, a disgusting thing to say. If you kill the bill, fine, I think you're a fool, but you do it because you think it's the right thing to do. Don't pull this "I'm not responsible for my actions" garbage. You were elected to make decisions and if you think this one would be so unpopular and bad that you need to dump responsibility for it onto someone else, then maybe you shouldn't be making that responsibility in the first place.

[Paul]

I hope Oropeza is willing to lose her next re-election campaign in order to kill it, because that's exactly what will happen.

[Spokker]

Does she want it extended to the Norwalk Metrolink station?

[James]

And while she is talking about it, the green line should also eventually be further expanded north to Santa Monica, hopefully aligning with the Expo and Purple lines. I believe Metro has already proposed this in their long range plan. The transit lines need to have connectors so riders are not forced to change lines only in downtown.