Assemblymember Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), who has participated in the Palisades Fourth of July parade for the past three years, said she would not miss riding in this Sunday’s event. ‘It’s always so great,’ Pavley said. ‘My husband Andy will walk with our dog Cammy, who is one of the Patriotic Pups, and I will be sitting in one of the cars.’ Pavley, who is up for re-election in November, has had a hectic six months in Sacramento, which saw Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger take office and Pavley introduce a bill to allow hybrid vehicles (which she drives) to use diamond lanes on the state’s freeways (AB-2628). In recent weeks she has been grappling, as have all legislators, with the state budget, which will not be signed by today’s July 1st constitutional deadline. ‘It’s in the hands of the ‘Big Five’,’ said Pavley, referring to the four legislative leaders (Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Assembly Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy) who have been meeting with the Governor daily to try to reach an agreement. While most of the $103 billion state budget ‘has already been agreed upon,’ Pavley said several contentious issues are still being negotiated, as she outlined in her June newsletter to constituents. Indian gaming is one. ‘The budget assumes that the Governor has finalized his negotiations with five tribes to obtain a share of their revenue for the state,’ Pavley said. ‘A portion of any such negotiated share would go to transportation and road improvement projects.’ Higher education is another issue of concern to Pavley, a former teacher. ‘Democratic legislators and the leadership team are actively supporting efforts to restore cuts made to higher education that would reduce enrollment, including qualified students accepted to CSU and UC schools who will otherwise be sent to community colleges instead; restoring outreach efforts; and reducing the amount of proposed tuition increases for community colleges.’ Pavley, who served as mayor in Agoura Hills for four years, is also concerned about how the budget will affect local government. ‘The deal that the Governor made with local government representatives, swapping and deferring revenues historically belonging to cities and counties, is still subject to debate in the legislature. Many small rural cities will go bankrupt from the proposed loss of revenues for two years which the Governor is calling their ‘contribution’ to the state deficit.’ Regarding tax increases, Pavley said that ‘although neither the Governor nor the Republicans will put taxes on the table, many Democratic legislators would support a 1 percent personal income tax increase for people who make in excess of $500,000 a year. This single action could avoid cuts to K-12 education, colleges and transportation. It could also reduce the ongoing borrowing and deferrals into our future that concern everyone.’ California is one of only three states in the country that requires a two-thirds vote of the legislature to pass a budget, ‘which means that a small minority of legislators can force, and have in the past, forced a budget standoff or concessions that may not be in the long-term best interest of our 35 million Californians,’ said Pavley, who did not envision that happening this year. In fact, this is the first summer since she took office (fall 2000) that she is able to take some time off because the ‘budget is in better shape than it has ever been at this point.’ Asked about her relationship with the Governor, Pavley said that she had her first semi-private meeting with him a month ago, along with a couple of other legislators, and was pleased to see that she and Schwarzenegger ‘agree on air and water quality issues. He is also a co-sponsor of my hybrid bill and has publicly supported my efforts regarding vehicle emissions. ‘ Diesel exhaust is a major source of our dirty air, and contributes to respiratory-related ailments such as asthma.’ In the meeting Pavley said the Governor took her by surprise when he asked her: ‘What is the one thing you want?’ ‘I told him I wanted many things. He said I should pick one.’ She said she’d have to think about it and get back to him. Pavley, who continues to champion education, transportation and the environment, plans to start campaigning at the end of August. She is running against Santa Monica resident Heather Peters, for whom the Palisades Republican Club held a fundraiser in June.
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