California Legislature Drops the Ball on Bill to Widen 405 Freeway

The Los Angeles Times has Revival of Carpool Lane Bill Promised.

A bill to pave the way for construction of a 10-mile stretch of carpool lane on the San Diego Freeway in Los Angeles will be resurrected in January when the Legislature reconvenes, several officials said Friday.

On Thursday night, legislators handed Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa a setback when the Senate recessed before voting on a bill that would have sped up construction on the more than $500-million project.

The lane would be on the freeway’s northbound side, from the Santa Monica Freeway to the Ventura Freeway. The southbound side already has a carpool lane.

Traffic is already a nightmare on the 405, and the Congress has already approved $130 million for the construction, so what is the delay?

Yup, a UNION TURF WAR over the time-saving “design-build” construction process.

Villaraigosa and Greuel have been pushing for the state to allow the project to proceed through a “design-build” process that speeds construction, allowing the carpool lane to be designed and built by the same contractor.

That concept is controversial.

The union representing Caltrans engineers has raised concerns that it could cost jobs because it would reduce the state agency’s role.

And some business interests are pushing for a broader bill that would adopt “design-build” as the standard for many public works projects to speed them up — a concept opposed by unions.

Now, Mayor Villaraigosa, California Senate Pro Tem Don Perata and California Assembly Speaker Fabien Nunez can give all the excuses they wish. But, Congressman Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, was all over California Governor Schwarzenegger and the Republicans in Congress to make this appropriation.

And look who ends up delaying…….. for at least 4 months….. the Democrat leaders of the California Legislature.

No wonder the California Legislature is held in such low regard by California voters.

It is hard to believe this is just a screw-up in scheduling.

In Sacramento, finger-pointing for the failure to finalize the bill was underway.

A spokeswoman for Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) blamed the Assembly, which passed the bill Thursday, for acting too late.

“If the speaker [of the Assembly] wanted the bill, he would have sent it over in time,” said Alicia Dlugosh, press secretary for Perata. She also said the Assembly was sitting on other bills that senators wanted considered.

But Vince Duffy, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles), said it was the Senate that dropped the ball. “We did our job and got to the finish line, and all of a sudden the Senate had shut down,” Duffy said.

So, when you are sitting in stalled traffic trying to return to the Valley from LAX remember it was not Schwarzenegger, not the Republican controlled Congress, not President Bush BUT……the left-wing public employee labor unions putting the arm on their lackeys in the California Legislature.

Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Antonio Villaraigosa, Fabian Nunez, Don Perata, Howard Berman, 405 Freeway