SoCal lawmakers cry foul over $3 billion goods movement funds decision

SoCal lawmakers cry foul over $3 billion goods movement funds decision Southern California lawmakers are threatening to hold up disbursal of nearly $3 billion in transportation funding following a state panel decision to give the region $500 million less than the lawmakers requested.
   The California Transportation Commission — charged with doling out the voter-approved Proposition 1b bond fund — voted 8 to 1 Tuesday to give Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties a total of $1.7 billion, or nearly 60 percent, of the $3 billion in goods movement funds available. The counties had been seeking up to 75 percent, or $2.2 billion, of the funds for transportation projects aimed at improving the flow of goods through ports, via rail, and over the highways.
   Last November, voters approved the $20 billion Proposition 1b bond measure to provide funds to improve the state's aging highway and transportation infrastructure. The state provided $2 billion for goods movement projects from the Prop 1b funds and last week added $500 million in already-allocated state transportation funds and $500 million in potential future funds to the pot.
   In reaching their decision Tuesday, the CTC rejected arguments by a coalition of 36 Southern California lawmakers calling for the lion's share of the bond funds to go to the five-county region. The coalition, fronted by State Assembly Speaker and Los Angeles Democrat Fabian Nu'ez, argued that Southern California deserved a larger share because 85 percent of the cargo containers handled in California move through the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
   Nu'ez, speaking to the CTC panel before their vote, blasted the funding plan being considered as 'unconscionable' and 'unacceptable.'
   “The proposal before you shortchanges the neediest areas of the state when it comes to goods movement,” Nu'ez said, later warning the commissioners that if the plan was approved 'you’re going to have problems with how we reconcile our differences in the legislature.'
   Following the vote, Nu'ez again threatened to take action in the state legislature to alter the funding. Claiming that the CTC was politicizing the process, Nu'ez said he would move to change the funding formula adopted by the CTC during the legislature's state budget process next year.
   The Prop 1b measure provided for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to distribute the funds through the CTC, whose members he appoints. The arrangement was heralded as a way to assure that political influence did not creep into the disbursement process.
   Following the vote, CTC Chairman Jim Ghielmetti said he fears that pressure from N''ez and other Southern California lawmakers could taint the disbursement process.
   “The intent of the legislature was to put it in the hands of the (CTC) so that it wouldn’t become political,” Ghielmetti told the San Francisco Chronicle. “Personally, I think we did the right thing. We’re not trying to play favorites.”
   The CTC vote approved guidelines for how the money would be split regionally. The CTC will later consider individual projects within the regions for specific funding.
   The guidelines would see funding levels by area of:
   ' Southern California, $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion.
   ' Bay Area-Central Valley, $640 million to $840 million.
   ' San Diego, $250 million to $400 million.
   ' Other areas, $60 million to $80 million.
   The CTC also set aside about $40 million for administrative fees. The upper ranges are dependent on the state collecting the additional $500 million in anticipated revenues added to the pot by the CTC last week.