7#A5L<@5JJJJJJ(XJJJJ JJJK*xJK KK*LJKK KKL'KKKKKKThe California Institute For Federal Policy Research California Capitol Hill Bulletin Volume 3, Bulletin 32 -- September 12, 1996 To expand communications between Washington and California, the California Institute provides periodic faxed bulletins regarding current activity on Capitol Hill which directly impacts our state. Bulletins are published weekly during sessions of Congress, and occasionally during other periods. The e-mail edition is made possible in part by a computer server donation from Sun Microsystems. INSTITUTE CO-SPONSORS BRIEFING ON IMMIGRATION POLICY On September 10, the Institute joined the Population Resource Center and the Sunbelt Institute in co-sponsoring a briefing on immigration issues. Approximately 65 congressional staff members and other interested parties heard from three experts on immigration policy. The three panelists were: Philip Martin, Ph.D., Professor of Agricultural Economics and Chair, Comparative Immigration and Integration Program, University of California at Davis; Jeffrey S. Passel, Ph.D., Director, Program for Research on Immigration Policy, The Urban Institute; and Mark Krikorian, Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies. Dr. Martin focused on new immigration patterns in California. He pointed out that in the mid-1960s migration to California was 1500 persons per day, with the vast majority of them coming from other U.S. states. Currently, migration to California runs at 1,000 per day, but the majority are foreign-born nationals of Mexico and the Philippines. He pointed out that part of the assimilation problem in California is due to the fact that there is no "average" immigrant, as there is an "average U.S.-born citizen." Today's immigrants are more likely to have college degrees than the average U.S. citizen, and, in addition, other immigrants are also more likely to have less than a high school education. Thus, the California immigrant today is either more educated or less educated than the average U.S. citizen. Dr. Martin also stated that he believed the Seasonal Agricultural Worker (SAW) program initiated in the 1980s has been a major factor in increasing California's immigrant population and the corresponding demand for services. Under that program, one million of the six million Mexican working-age males became SAWs and moved with their families to California. In general, these immigrants were poorly educated, with only about five years of schooling, and on average had five to six children in the family. This influx happened at the same time that the recession was first being felt in California. Thus, the demand for increased services, such as elementary schools, hit at the worst possible time for California. Dr. Martin also cautioned that proposals to deny U.S. citizenship to the children born in the U.S. of immigrants may have unintended consequences. He pointed out that by the year 2050 in Germany, where citizenship is denied the German-born children of immigrants, 30 percent to 60 percent of the population of Germany's six largest cities will be non-German. Dr. Jeffrey Passel then briefed the audience on the interpretation of several studies estimating the costs of providing education to immigrants. He pointed out that the vast differences in estimated costs result from different assumptions used by the specific studies, and he cautioned that use of the figures should be tempered by knowledge of the assumptions made. He stated that on one area there is general agreement: in California, the cost of educating undocumented immigrant children is approximately $1.5 billion per year. Four studies, two done by California officials, one by the General Accounting Office and one by the Urban Institute, all reached about the same estimate. But he also pointed out that these studies estimated average costs. Eliminating education to undocumented immigrant children would not save California $1.5 billion per year, he said, because the estimates include the costs associated with buildings and salaries that might not necessarily be eliminated if the number of students were reduced. Mark Krikorian spoke on the impact of the pending immigration bill on migration to the U.S. He stated that, if the bill is enacted, it will only impact on the symptoms of immigration and not affect its causes. He opined that jobs are the magnet for immigration to the United States and until there is an effective, national verification program designed to determine worker eligibility with a minimum intrusion on privacy, migration will continue to increase. He pointed out that high levels of legal immigration result in high levels of illegal immigration, because of family ties and national networks. Thus, he believes that legal immigration must be reduced in order to decrease illegal immigration. This briefing was the second of two on immigration that the Institute, the PRC, and the Sunbelt Institute have hosted this year. The first was held on March 1, 1996. AGREEMENT REACHED ON FY 1997 ENERGY & WATER APPROPRIATION On Thursday, the House approved the $20.4 billion conference report on the FY 1997 energy and water appropriations bill, H.R.3816, by a vote of 383 to 29. The Senate was expected to pass the conference report later this evening. The bill contains $465 million more than last year and $247 million more than had been requested by the Administration. More than 80% of the increase over the president's request comes in DOE's defense programs. The National Ignition Facility (NIF), which would use powerful lasers to produce energy output similar to that in stars and nuclear weapons, is reported to be funded fully by the energy & water bill, at $191 million. The NIF is slated to be built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Northern California. A recent report estimated that two-thirds of vendors currently supporting Livermore's inertial confinement fusion projects are located in California, and that NIF will create 3,320 jobs in the Bay Area, and more than 6,000 nationwide. Fusion energy programs in the conference report were reportedly funded at $232.5 million, halfway between the levels previously proposed in House and Senate versions of the bill. (The House bill had budgeted $225 million, the Senate version $240 million.) This level funds magnetic fusion programs at a level nearly 10% less than last year and nearly 40% below the FY95 level of $366 million. California receives a substantial share of federal fusion funding. On a positive note, the conference bill eliminates specific earmarks within the fusion accounts. Because of his concerns over the proposed phase-out of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) at Princeton, New Jersey Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen had inserted a provision earmarking $52 million for TFTR. The Fusion Energy Advisory Committee, a panel of fusion experts convened by DOE, will meet soon to prioritize the $232.5 million appropriated today. DELEGATION COMMITS TO FEDERAL FUNDING FOR BAY-DELTA Rep. Bill Baker (Walnut Creek), joined by Reps. Frank Riggs (Windsor), George Radanovich (Mariposa), Andrea Seastrand (Shell Beach), and David Dreier (San Dimas), announced plans this week to introduce legislation to fund the first phase of the Bay-Delta restoration program. These members were joined by Speaker Newt Gingrich and California Secretary of State Bill Jones at a news conference on Wednesday announcing the legislation. Rep. Baker stated that he is committed to getting a vote on the bill in the House before Congress adjourns, and hopes that the Senate will also act quickly. Rep. Steve Horn (Long Beach) is also a co-sponsor of the bill. The bill will authorize $143 million annually for fiscal years 1998 thru 2000 to be used for water quality and environmental improvements in the Bay-Delta. In November, Californians will vote on Proposition 204, a bond measure to raise $995 million as the state's share in funding the project. The bond money, if approved, will be devoted to Delta improvement projects, loans and grants for water quality and environmental enhancement projects. In addition to the state's funding, as much as $2.5 billion in federal funding may be needed over several years to fully implement the restoration project. CONFEREES ADOPT REPORT ON TRANSPORTATION SPENDING BILL On Tuesday night, House and Senate negotiators adopted by voice vote the conference report for H.R. 3675, the FY 1997 transportation spending bill. The measure provides $18 billion from the Highway Trust Fund for the federal aid highway program, at least $350 million more than either the Senate or House versions. According to staff, the availability of additional funds resulted from an increase in the dollars made available for transportation programs. The conferees reached several agreements related to the funding of California transportation projects. The committee deleted appropriations language for the Alameda Corridor project as part of an agreement which would move its funding authority to the Continuing Resolution. Conferees allocated $70 million to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the Metro Rail extension project. However, Rep. Frank Wolf (VA) insisted on a provision that would withhold the subway construction monies if Los Angeles diverts LAX funds to the city treasury. The conference report appropriates $27.5 million to the BART-SFO extension project, a figure about halfway between the Senate and House figures. The conference agreement on most of the remaining California projects involved averaging the Senate and House allocations. Finally, the conferees did not include the so called "Bacchus amendment" which would have directed the Secretary of Transportation to recalculate the distribution of obligation limitations, costing California up to $68 million. The House is expected to vote on the conference report next Wednesday. CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE AUTHORITY BILL AWAITS WILSON SIGNATURE On the final evening of session, both houses of the California Legislature ratified legislation to create the California Earthquake Authority (CEA), a state-run and privately financed program to supply earthquake insurance to California homeowners. If signed by the Governor, the CEA would raise $10.5 billion to help cover homeowner losses from earthquakes. That amount includes $3.35 billion from taxable state bonds and $6 billion from insurance and reinsurance companies. The Governor is expected to sign the three bills creating the CEA before the end of the month. On the federal level, Rep Jerry Lewis (Redlands) was instrumental in ensuring that the CEA will receive tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service. NSF EARTHQUAKE CENTER PROPOSAL TO BE SUBMITTED OCTOBER 15 Efforts to secure state-level matching funds for a National Science Foundation (NSF) earthquake engineering center for the state stayed on track, when the state legislature passed S.B. 1864 prior to its August 31 adjournment. Governor Pete Wilson is expected to sign the bill in the near future. The bill provides $2 million per year for 5 years in matching funds in the event that California wins an earthquake center. Several key California research universities (Caltech, Stanford, U.S.C. and the U.C. campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, L.A., and San Diego) are jointly developing a single proposal. The universities have agreed that a California center would be administered by and located at U.C. Berkeley, headed by Berkeley professor Jack Moehle, though all eight campuses would have significant research roles. The universities are now finalizing their submittal, which will be delivered to NSF by its October 15 deadline. Supporters of the California proposal will likely conduct a D.C. briefing after the proposal is submitted. NSF is expected to make award grants for earthquake engineering centers after the first of the year. HOUSE COMMITTEE CONTEMPLATES NASA CUTBACKS The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee held a hearing on the infrastructure and budgeting process for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Wednesday. More specifically, the committee heard testimony relating to NASA's plans for cutting their budget by $4 billion before Fiscal Year 2001. Recent reduction efforts have failed to achieve accurate savings estimates and have encountered other difficulties associated with the downsizing. Currently, NASA procurement in California accounts for 28% of the agency's procurement budget. In his remarks before the committee, Thomas J. Schulz, associate director of GAO's National Security and International Affairs Division, testified that NASA's downsizing efforts have not been as effective as originally hoped and suggested the possibility that NASA cutbacks be decided by a process similar to the one employed by the Base Closure Commission. While acknowledging several of Mr. Schulz' criticisms, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin rejected the idea of an independent commission to determine how and where NASA cutbacks should occur. He asked lawmakers to allow him to continue reform of the agency and to minimize personnel layoffs by offering buyouts to senior management officials. NASA Inspector General Roberta L. Gross joined Schulz in suggesting that NASA downsizing could be more effective and more thoroughly thought out. ROCKWELL WINS SPACE MISSILE TRACKING PROGRAM CONTRACT On September 3, the Air Force awarded Rockwell International's Space System Division, based in Downey, a $179 million risk-reduction contract for accelerating the Space Missile Tracking System. Rockwell was the sole proposer for this portion of the program. Congress has required that the program be accelerated from deployment in 2006 to 2002. TRW Space and Electronics Group and Hughes Electro-Optical Systems, both Southern California companies, will launch two satellites in 1999, and Rockwell will launch one. The competition for the next phase will take place in 1999. SAN JOSE FIRM WINS ARMY CONTRACT Litton Industries Inc.'s Applied Technologies Division has recently been awarded a U.S. Army contract potentially worth $97 million. The San Jose-based company will produce the AN/APR-39A(V)2 threat warning systems for U.S. Navy and Marine Corps fixed and rotary wing aircraft. The system informs an aircrew by visual and voice cockpit alert that its aircraft is being illuminated by hostile radar. The contract calls for an initial 210 systems to be installed, worth $45.7 million, with an option for the Army to pick up an additional 290 systems, worth $52 million. The contract will cover production through the year 2000. HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO HOLD ENCRYPTION HEARING The House Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing on legislation that would relax export controls on encryption technology on September 25, at 9:30 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn. The bill, H.R.3011 would allow U.S. persons to use and sell encryption and to relax export controls on encryption. The hearing was originally scheduled for Sept. 11. While some in the national security and intelligence communities have expressed concern about the exporting techologies which could be used by the nation's enemies, many in California's electronic technology and software communities support export of encryption, pointing out that export controls would encourage potential purchasers who are unable buy from U.S. sources to seek foreign suppliers. CALIFORNIA HOME SALES CONTINUE TO RISE WHILE PRODUCTION DROPS According to the California Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes for the second quarter of 1996 rose 31.2% from the same period last year. The increase represents the largest quarterly sales increase in 10 years. Further, the median sales price of homes increased 3% in the second quarter over the first quarter, bringing the median cost of a home to $180,070. Conversely, a new forecast released this month by the Construction Industry Research Board, predicts an 8% drop from the 106,000-unit estimate issued earlier this year, and a 2% drop from the 99,500 estimate released just last month. If the new estimate is accurate at year-end, 1996 will mark the fifth year in a row the industry has failed to top the 100,000 mark. uead Me First7DF7@FreePPP FAQ - 1st Edition7EI7@Installing MacPPP|FA5A8 @5VID BG=~8y3s & h , l 1 k : y - f "a$g-p2@@= K3o4t/q! c1qW\5v5ryz0s2r>D 6 u !5!s!!!""X""##R###$'$h$$%0%p%%&1&q&&'8'{''((((W(() )I))**K***++<+=+w++,:,w,,-"-^! ! a-^--. .a.../:/y//000,0l001)1k112*2j223&3b3344X4455[5555606o667/7k778+8D8E8f88939b999:5:t:::;;Y;;<>>D>>??F???@>@@AA5! Z @5A5 :!,"7+@5?BA<@A8!-^A5"#$ !"STUV,,,,----6788888899999999::::::PHH(FP(PHH(d'd"qP=/B@H-:Acrobat PDFWriter Times@4@4@4Eedp' BULL332.txt Joe Nation Joe Nation