Transit Shake-up Rejected; Robbins Will Try Again

SACRAMENTO — In what some saw as a session to settle personal scores with state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), the Senate on Friday rejected his measure to abolish the RTD and create a transportation super-agency in Los Angeles County.

Although the bill fell three votes short of passage, the upper house agreed to reconsider it next week. The legislative session ends Friday.

The transportation reorganization bill had moved easily through the Assembly earlier this year. But it bogged down in the Senate in recent weeks under the political weight of amendments inserted by Robbins.

Most Controversial

The most controversial of those would create an opening on the proposed board for a legislative appointee from the San Fernando Valley. Robbins previously admitted that he wanted to fill that seat. In a last-minute bid to win votes Friday, though, Robbins pledged that he would not take a seat on the board.

As the tireless Robbins scurried back and forth across the Senate floor in search of votes, one Democratic lawmaker who has been supportive of the bill said, “A lot of this is punishing Alan Robbins.” Some senators, he said, were withholding votes either because they were suspicious of Robbins’ motives or they resent the way he operates as a tenacious vote-swapper and deal-maker.

Robbins himself acknowledged during the debate that questions about his political ambitions had overshadowed debate on the substance of the bill. “There have been a number of questions about the agenda I might have,” he said.

Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), who has been gently sniping at Robbins’ motives for carrying the bill and who Thursday heatedly argued with Robbins in the Senate chambers, led the opposition. Torres asserted that the measure did nothing to solve serious public transportation problems in Los Angeles County.

Strict Limits

Over Robbins’ objection, the Senate adopted a Torres amendment to make the new transit agency’s board subject to strict limits on campaign fund raising.

“What is at stake here is the integrity of a state agency that will have billions of dollars in contracts,” Torres said, adding he wanted to avoid a “traffic jam” of special interests at the new transit board’s door.

Robbins and members of the Board of Supervisors have argued that the restriction would make it impossible for the new board to function because the proposed board members--all elected officeholders--have taken contributions from thousands of donors.

The vote on the bill did not follow party lines, with Democrats and Republicans about evenly split. Among the 13 Los Angeles County lawmakers, only four voted for the measure: Robbins, Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena) and Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles).

After the bill was voted down, however, Robbins denied that resentment toward him was a factor. He blamed the delay on “a series of phony issues” and lobbying efforts by opponents of the reorganization. He singled out RTD General Manager John Dyer, who could lose his job as result of the reorganization.

New Amendments

Robbins and the bill’s co-author, Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) said they will try to devise new amendments over the weekend to garner the needed Senate votes.

The bill is intended to better coordinate transit by consolidating most bus service and all major highway and commuter rail projects in the county under a single agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. A powerful 11-member panel of elected officials, including Mayor Tom Bradley and the five county supervisors, would govern the new agency. It would replace the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.