SACRAMENTO — A power struggle is emerging over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $222-billion public works package. Democratic leaders say legislators and local governments would be required to cede too much influence in deciding how to remake California's roads, jails and waterways.
The issue is expected to be one of the main points of contention as lawmakers today begin considering Schwarzenegger's proposal for the biggest building effort in four decades.
Schwarzenegger has said he wants to ensure that the effort -- which would be paid for through $68 billion in state borrowing as well as federal aid, user fees and existing gas taxes -- does not become politicized by lawmakers insisting that all districts have projects funded no matter the need.
"We're all clear ... that we should build what is necessary for the state of California, not having each legislator say, 'Well, I need this street to be built in my neighborhood, and I need this little bridge there, and I need this and I need that,' " Schwarzenegger said earlier this month.
Democratic leaders, who suggested months before Schwarzenegger that a large investment needed to be made in the state's physical foundations, agreed that lawmakers should not select every project.
But under the governor's plan, enormous multibillion-dollar ventures -- such as deciding how to move goods more quickly through California's ports and setting fees on water users -- would be determined by state agencies -- without being included in the annual budget approved by the Legislature.
Democrats complain that they could be bypassed on politically sensitive policy decisions. Those include whether to build new dams and who should pay for them; how best to funnel water through the state; and what portion of public safety money should be spent on prison cells versus rehabilitation programs.
In addition, Democrats say Schwarzenegger's plan contains disturbing echoes of previous grand proposals from the governor that also would have sidelined lawmakers. Concerns about turning Sacramento into an autocracy helped doom his California Performance Review, which aimed to streamline state government, as well as Proposition 76, last year's failed initiative to limit state spending.
After his special election defeats, Schwarzenegger pledged to work with legislators instead of trying to go around them.
