CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE:
House Committee Marks Up DOD Bill
27 Members Sign Biomaterials Letter
30 Sign Commercial Space Letter
Bono and Lee Committee Assignments
Dreier to Chair Rules in Next Congress
PRC Briefing on Census Long Form
Subcommittee Revisits 1990 Census
UCSD Study Finds Low-Skilled Workers Still
Needed in Workforce
Four California Water Districts Request Modification
of Salton Sea Bill
California Population: 33 Million Plus.
Disaster Mitigation Draft Bill Reviewed
Unresolved Budget Slows ISTEA Talks
27 MEMBERS SIGN ON TO BIOMATERIALS LETTER
Twenty-seven California delegation members
signed the letter to Speaker Newt Gingrich urging that the Biomaterials
Access Assurance Act (H.R. 872) be considered by Congress as soon as possible.
The letter was spearheaded by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (San Jose), Brian Bilbray
(Imperial Beach), and Howard Berman (West Hollywood) (See Bulletin, Vol.
5, No. 14 (4/23/98)). Access to life-saving implantable devices
has been jeopardized by a shortage of the raw bio-materials used to make
the devices, because of expensive and frivolous lawsuits. H.R. 872
makes it easier for suppliers of materials used in the manufacture of medical
devices to be dismissed from medical malpractice suits brought against
manufacturers and others, if their materials met the manufacturer’s specifications.
It also ensures that negligent or intentionally tortious suppliers can
be brought back into a case if subsequent evidence warrants it. The
House Judiciary Committee reported the bill on April 1.
DELEGATION LETTER SUPPORTING H.R. 1702 GARNERS
30 SIGNATURES
Thirty members of the California House congressional
delegation signed a letter to Senators Boxer and Feinstein urging their
support of H.R. 1702, the Commercial Space Act of 1997. The measure
passed unanimously by the House last November and is now under consideration
by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
The letter requested Senators to consider
the importance of the bipartisan measure to the state. It would allow
federal licensing of the nation’s reusable launch vehicles to be landed,
as well as launched from the United States. According to the letter,
the bill also would improve the regulatory process for America’s commercial
remote sensing industry to allow more use of satellite information for
environmental protection and “precision farming.”
For further information regarding the letter,
see Bulletin, Vol.
5, No 15, (4/28/98).
REPS. BONO AND LEE RECEIVE COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Newly elected Reps. Mary Bono (Palm Springs)
and Barbara Lee (Oakland) have received their committee assignments.
Rep. Bono will serve on the House Judiciary Committee (on which her late
husband also served) and the National Security Committee. Rep. Lee
has been assigned to the House Banking Committee, which also covers housing
issues, and to the Science Committee. As reported previously, newly-arrived
Rep. Lois Capps (Santa Barbara) serves on the Science Committee and on
International Affairs.
REP. DREIER TO HEAD HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE IN
106TH CONGRESS
House Speaker Newt Gingrich last week confirmed
that Rep. David Dreier (Covina) will hold the key post of Chairman of the
House Rules Committee when the 106th Congress convenes in January.
Rep. Gerald Solomon (NY), the current Rules Chairman, has recently announced
his retirement from Congress. Dreier, who currently chairs the subcommittee
on Rules and Organization of the House, would be the first Californian
to chair the panel.
PRC BRIEFING ON CENSUS LONG FORM
How long is the journey to work for a resident
of Orange County, California? How many people hold college degrees
in Humboldt County? The answers to these questions are all data collected
on the long form during the decennial census. On Friday, May 1st,
the Population Resource Center (PRC) held a briefing on, “Taking the Social
& Economic Pulse of America: Data from the Census Long Form,” another
in the PRC’s briefing series on the 2000 Census.
Experts at the briefing said a variation of
the long form has existed since 1820, when questions on industry were first
asked in addition to population. Today, about one in every six people
get the long form, in addition to the census survey that is distributed
to every household. Each of the 50-plus questions that appear on
the long form are based on federal legislation. For example, a new
question for the 2000 census will ask about grandparents providing child
care as a result of the recent welfare reform legislation.
Representatives from business, academia, and
state and local governments also spoke about the importance of the long
form and uses of the data. UCLA’s Dr. Leo Estrada said the long form
data gives analysts the data to explain differentials in population over
time and reconstruct communities to build better frameworks for decision-makers.
The National Association of Counties’ (NACo) Ms. Jacqueline Byers emphasized
local government’s need for consistent and comparable data across local
and state boundaries. Both Ms. Joan Naymark of the Dayton Hudson
Corporation and Mr. Michel Lettré, Assistant Director for the State
of Maryland’s Office of Planning, showed where long form data influenced
crafting of laws and programs and, with the assistance of high technology,
showed how the long form data could be analyzed, manipulated, and distributed
to the public. All speakers stressed that the long form of the Census is
the only place to get the data they use daily.
If you’d like more information on the briefing
and upcoming PRC events, please visit their web site at http://www.members.aol.com/PopResCtr/prc.html
or phone 202/467-5030.
CENSUS SUBCOMMITTEE REVISITS 1990 CENSUS
On Tuesday, the House Government Reform and
Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on the Census held a hearing to discuss
“Oversight of the 2000 Census: Revisiting the 1990 Census.” Organized
in November of last year, the Subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Dan Miller
(FL) and is charged with oversight of the 2000 Census.
Reps. Tom Petri (WI) and Tom Sawyer (OH),
former Chairman of the Subcommittee on Census, Statistics, and Postal Personnel
that oversaw the 1990 Census, offered the Subcommittee their insights on
the role Congress should play in oversight of the Census. During
the discussion, both Reps. Sawyer and Petri said that while the 1990 Census
was not perfect, and could be improved, it undertook the largest count
and its results compared to previous censuses. In his written testimony,
Rep. Sawyer said, “I believe firmly that the 1990 Census was not a failure
of execution, but a failure of design — a 20 year-old design that
has outgrown our nation,” a nation that is constantly changing and increasingly
transient he later remarked. Overall, Chairman Miller expressed his
concern that the Commerce Department’s plans for the 2000 Census are not
receiving adequate congressional input.
A panel of statisticians also testified at
the hearing, and focused on the use of sampling to adjust for the total
undercount (people missed or counted twice) after the census is completed.
In 1992, Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher denied the Census Bureau’s
request to use sampling to adjust the 1990 count. The University
of California at Berkeley’s Professor Peter Stark said “adjusting the census
did not work in 1990, because of statistical bias. Taking a bigger
sample, as proposed for the 2000 Census, could make bias even worse.”
Jerry Coffey, a retired OMB mathematics statistician, and Kenneth Darga,
Senior Demographer with the State of Michigan, also charged that there
were errors in the Census Bureau’s adjustment for undercounts. Wade
Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,
also attended the hearing, and in his written testimony said that while
the census will never produce a perfect result, the nation should not shy
away from using a new method in an effort to improve and refine census
techniques.
Please contact the Subcommittee at 202/226-1973
for copies of written testimony.
In related developments, several California
jurisdictions are among the cities and other governmental parties joining
Los Angeles by intervening in the two pending census lawsuits. These
include the cities of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose,
Inglewood, Long Beach, Houston, Stamford (CT), Denver, and San Antonio;
the State of New Mexico; the California counties of San Francisco, Los
Angeles, San Bernardino, Alameda, Riverside, and Santa Clara; Dade County,
FL; the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles; and the U.S. Conference
of Mayors.
UCSD STUDY FINDS LOW-SKILLED WORKERS STILL
NEEDED IN WORKFORCE
A recent study conducted by the University
of California, San Diego has concluded that unskilled, low-wage immigrant
labor continues to be needed in today’s high technology-dominated workforce.
The three-year study, conducted by Political Science Prof. Wayne Cornelius,
focused on interviews with 1,169 employers and employees in the San Diego
area and Hamamatsu, a similarly industrial city in Japan.
The high-tech industry employs low-skilled
workers in a variety of jobs, including production of electronic components
such as circuit boards and CD-ROMs, according to the findings. In
releasing these results, Dr. Cornelius commented that in his view it is
better for the U.S. to have these jobs, with their accompanying multiplier
effects on the rest of the economy, than to have them done in third-world
countries.
To obtain a copy of the study, contact Dr.
Cornelius directly through UCSD’s website at: http://dssadmin.ucsd.edu/PoliSci/FacContactInfo.htm.
FOUR CALIFORNIA WATER DISTRICTS REQUEST MODIFICATION
OF SALTON SEA BILL
Coachella Valley Water District, the Imperial
Irrigation District, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California,
and San Diego County Water Authority have written a letter to the Salton
Sea Task Force asking for modifications to H.R. 3267, the Sonny bono Memorial
Salton Sea National Reclamation Act. The Task Force is comprised
of Reps. Mary Bono (Palm Springs), George Brown (San Bernardino), Ken Calvert
(Corona), Duncan Hunter (Alpine), and Jerry Lewis (Redlands).
The letter requests that language be added
to the bill to ensure that Imperial Irrigation District and Coachella Valley
Water District will be immune from any liability resulting from the actions
of the Secretary of the Interior in implementing the Act. The water
districts argue that the language is needed because they are currently
involved in litigation over flooding of land that forms part of the seabed,
and if the implementation of the act requires adding more water to the
Sea, the Districts should not be held liable for any resulting damage.
The modification would also ensure that the flood immunity of the United
States extends to any diversion of flood flows to the Salton Sea under
the Act, and protect entities who cooperate with the Secretary from liability.
Finally, the requested changes would delete a current section of the bill
that they fear would force them to dedicate water to the Salton Sea or
would be read to contradict existing court judgments and State Water Resources
Control Board decisions.
CALIFORNIA: 33 MILLION AND STILL COUNTING
. . .
The California Department of Finance (DOF)
on Wednesday released its January 1998 population estimates for the state
and its counties and cities. Last year, California’s population broke
the 33 million mark, according to DOF, increasing 582,000 (1.8%) over January
of 1997. The population increases were attributed to foreign immigration
and the reversal of a long-term trend of domestic out-migration (where
more people moved out, instead of into, the state.) According to
state demographers, the current trend is continuing based on population
estimates released in March.
For the 1997 calendar year, about 95% (446
of 471) California’s cities gained population, while only 11 lost and 14
had no change in population. Los Angeles is still the state’s largest
city, its population growing 1.3% to 3,722,500 in 1997. The only
other California city with over a million residents, San Diego grew 2.2%
to 1,224,800. The next largest cities, San Jose (894,000) and San
Francisco (789,600) grew at 2.3% and 2.2% respectively. The state’s
fastest growing cities were Corcoran (22.1% — the jump is credited to
a new corrections facility added in 1997), Brentwood (16.4%), Ferndale
(14.6%), Soledad (10.5%), and Santa Clarita (9.7%).
The state’s largest counties were also the
largest numerical gainers of residents in 1997. Los Angeles County’s
population increased 1.4% (132,400) to 9,603,300 people, meaning that the
county is home to almost 29% of the state’s total population. San
Diego County rose 2.4% (65,700) and Orange County also went up 1.7% (44,800).
The County of San Francisco (789,600) joined the “state’s top ten largest
counties” list for the January 1998 estimates, edging out Fresno County
(786,800) which had been the tenth largest at last measure. Since
January 1997, California’s fastest growing counties, based on percentage
change, were Kings (5.2%), Monterey (4.7%), San Benito (3.4%), Del Norte
(3.4%), and Calaveras (3.4%).
Of California’s 58 counties, DOF found population
declines in only two small counties: Trinity (which fell by just
50 residents to 13,250) and Lassen (declining by 200 to 34,150).
Only two cities, both with a significant Navy presence, showed substantial
population declines: Alameda (which declined by 4,200 to 72,500 residents)
and Coronado (dipping 2,450 to 26,800 residents). All other cities
showed increases or nearly stable populations.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s last estimate (July
1997) of the state’s population was about 32.26 million; DOF had estimated
about 32.9 million for that date. According to the Department of
Finance, both agencies use similar methods to calculate the state’s population,
but vary in the indicators used to determine state population.
If you would like more detailed information,
please see the Department of Finance’s web site at http://www.dof.ca.gov/html/Demograp/whatsnew.htm..
DISASTER MITIGATION DRAFT BILL REVIEWED
The Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee
of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee received testimony
on Thursday on its draft bill, the Mitigation and Cost Reduction Act of
1998. Previously this year, the Subcommittee held two hearings (see
Bulletin, Vol. 5, Nos.
3 (1/29/98) and 11
(3/27/98)) to examine the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA)
current initiatives and other ways to reduce the costs of natural disasters.
According to the Subcommittee, federal disaster expenditures increased
from $3.3 billion to more than $13 billion over the last five years, with
expectations of continued rising costs in the future.
The draft bill focuses on Subcommittee Chairman
Sherwood Boehlert’s (NY) desire to place more emphasis on hazard mitigation,
by specifically authorizing federal funding for pre-disaster activities
like FEMA’s Project Impact. Last year FEMA began Project Impact,
a pilot program that provides federal funds to seven communities nationwide
to form private-public partnerships to undertake pre-disaster hazard mitigation.
FEMA is planning to expand Project Impact to every state by the end of
this year. Oakland is one of the seven communities participating
in Project Impact.
The bill would also make “streamlining
and cost reduction” changes to the public assistance program and create
state competitive grants for mapping modernization. FEMA expressed
its opposition to the draft bill’s proposal to create a pilot program to
allow states to administer the assistance program, and instead, highlighted
its own approach, The New Public Assistance Program. Reforms to the
program identified by FEMA include: maximize the use of information
technology; provide a single-point of contact for applicants; provide on-site
eligibility; and provide training and credentializing inspectors.
FEMA said it already established hazard disaster mitigation officers in
each state in 1995, and recently added environmental officers in each region.
FEMA specified it supports a provision in the draft bill that allows public
assistance grants to be made on the basis of estimates.
During testimony, Rep. Jay Kim (Diamond Bar)
referenced a letter, signed by 33 members of the delegation, sent last
fall to FEMA Director Witt recommending changes to the agency’s current
administration of the Public Assistance Program. The letter, among
other things, proposed: providing public due process prior to the adoption
of new or modified policies; working with local jurisdictions to ensure
NEPA compliance; delegating eligibility decision-making to those closest
to the disaster; and expanding on-line reporting. FEMA Associate
Director Michael Armstrong, who testified at the hearing, said he would
review the letter and consider its suggestions in regard to the draft bill.
If you would like a copy of the testimony,
please visit the Subcommittee’s web site at http://www.house.gov/transportation/water/wrhearin/05-07-98/05-07-98memo.htm.
UNRESOLVED BUDGET SLOWS ISTEA TALKS
ISTEA conferees continue to meet and hammer
out the details but the major funding issues at the center of the reauthorization
transportation laws wait to be resolved. On May 1st, the six-month
stop-gap extension Congress approved last fall, expired without another
authorization.
The heart of the disagreement is over what
level, and how, transportation should be funded out of the federal budget.
House Transportation Chairman Bud Shuster (PA) favors dedicating highway
trust funds revenues for transportation by taking the Highway Trust Fund
off-budget, however, many disagree with this approach. Transportation
Secretary Slater said that the funding levels proposed by the House (H.R.
2400) and Senate (S. 1173) bills “remain a paramount concern of the administration.”
Senate negotiators had presented a compromise plan to House Speaker Newt
Gingrich (GA), but there is speculation as to whether a deal will be agreed
to this week.
In the meantime, conferees approved a third
set of provisions, recommended by staff, on Wednesday. The provisions
include the authorization of a range of studies, including requiring the
Transportation Secretary to conduct a comprehensive assessment of
transportation infrastructure on the southwest border between the U.S.
and Mexico. For a detailed list of this week’s agreed upon provisions,
and the agreements from April 24th and 28th, as well as other relevant
documents, visit the Senate’s Environment and Public Works’ Committee
web site at http://www.senate.gov/~epw/istea_lk.htm.
CORRECTION: Last week, we reported on a letter sent by Caltrans to all California ISTEA conferees which stated that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (Huntington Beach) was appointed a conferee. He has not been appointed to the ISTEA conference committee. We regret any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.
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