Posted on 11/18/2004 7:06:40 AM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO -- Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, has tapped a Northern California lawmaker to be the next chairman of the powerful Assembly Budget Committee, Democratic sources said Wednesday. Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, who represents Monterey and Santa Clara counties, has been active among Assembly Democrats in shaping environmental policy and is also one of a handful of openly gay members of the Legislature.
Nunez, D-Los Angeles, declined through a spokesman to confirm or deny Laird's selection as chairman to succeed Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who is leaving the lower house due to term limits.
The speaker's office is not officially publicizing committee assignments until December or January.
Laird was traveling and unavailable for comment.
State Senate President pro tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, announced Wednesday that Sen. Wesley Chesbro, of California's North Coast, would remain chairman of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, meaning both key fiscal panels will be led by Northern California lawmakers in 2005.
That has implications for Southern California's funding needs, said Steve Frates, a senior fellow at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College. A budget committee chairman has significant influence and regularly determines how and where money is spent.
Due to the south's population edge over the north, more legislators represent Southern California than Northern California, and by all accounts the region should dominate Sacramento, Frates said.
"The Southern California Democratic delegation, in both the Assembly and Senate, has been spectacularly unsuccessful in protecting the interests of their constituents. By any measure, cities, counties and school districts in Southern California have gotten a raw deal over the past 20 years."
But a former Assembly Budget Committee chairwoman, Democrat Jenny Oropeza of Long Beach, disagreed with that view. The last Southern California legislator to head a budget committee, she spoke highly of Laird and does not expect the region's funding needs to suffer under him.
"John Laird will make an excellent budget chairman because he will fairly serve the needs of both Northern and Southern California. He will consider all interests before making a decision."
Laird, complimented by colleagues for his temperament and knowledge of issues, currently serves as chairman of the Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials and Select Committee on California Water Needs and Climate Change. He is also a member of the Assembly Budget Committee and the Assembly-Senate Joint Legislative Budget committee.
Ashamed-of-my-town bump
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