California Capitol Hill Bulletin, 4/11/97 Page 1 THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE FOR FEDERAL POLICY RESEARCH 419 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, D.C. 20003 Voice: 202-546-3700 Fax: 202-546-2390 e-mail: ransdell@calinst.org California Capitol Hill Bulletin Volume 4, Bulletin 11 -- April 3, 1997 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. CALIFORNIA WINS SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER COMPETITION; COALITION LED BY U.C. SAN DIEGO IS SELECTED FOR $170 MILLION NSF AWARD Last Friday, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it has awarded a $170 million, five-year grant to help create a new high performance network for the world's most powerful computers to a University of California, San Diego-led coalition of 37 research institutions. The selection was a victory for the bipartisan California congressional delegation, which had sought the award. The decision ensures that UCSD will continue to operate the Supercomputer Center, one of the nation's premier labs for advanced computer technologies, and will make San Diego a nexus in an emerging high-speed network that links together high-performance computers from 37 research institutions in 18 states. The award will help UCSD make powerful supercomputers more accessible for scientific research and dramatically expand the capacity and uses of the computer network itself. A broad bipartisan majority of the California congressional delegation rallied around the proposal and co-authored a letter to the NSF urging the agency's support of the proposal. In a related story, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), which was moved to Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in 1996, yesterday announced an agreement with Silicon Graphics-Cray Research to significantly upgrade its supercomputing capabilities. INSTITUTE CO-SPONSORS IMMIGRATION BRIEFING On March 25, the Institute co-hosted another in its series of immigration briefings with the Population Resource Center. The attendees heard from three experts in the field. Hans Johnson, Research Fellow with the Public Policy Institute of California, spoke on his latest research on California's undocumented population. Mr. Johnson stated that undocumented immigration added between 1.3 million and 2.2 million residents to the state from 1980 to 1990, accounting for 22% - 31% of the state's population growth during that time. He noted, however, that the annual flow of illegal immigrants into the state began to drop in the early 1990s, down to about 125,000 per year versus 200,000 per year in the late 1980s, probably because of California' economic recession. Now that the recession is over, Mr. Johnson indicated that the number of undocumented immigrants into the state is again growing. According to the latest available figures from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, there were 4.5 - 5.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States in 1996, with about 40 percent, or 2 million, of them in California. Based on his research, Mr. Johnson concluded that the flow of undocumented immigration responds strongly to the economic conditions in California and Mexico, and less strongly to social and family ties. The second panelist was Roger Waldinger, Ph.D., Prof. of Sociology and Dir. Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Waldinger spoke on his recent book, Ethnic Los Angeles, which examines the city's ethnic transformation since 1970. Medhi Bozorgmehr, a sociologist at City College, City University of New York, co-authored the book, which contains contributions by 21 scholars. The study found that the Los Angeles region has experienced two distinct migration flows: One of educated Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants who generally move into the middle class more quickly; and another of low-skilled working-class immigrants from Mexico and Central America, whose presence can aggravate economic difficulties for native-born minority poor. Dr. Waldinger found that immigration has increased joblessness among African- American Angelenos, because immigrants are filling the "easy-entry" positions once filled by less- educated blacks. However, the study also found that racism appears to have also played a part, because low-skilled white workers who have not left the Los Angeles region have remained relatively unaffected by the immigrant influx. The last panelist was William Frey, Ph.D., Research Scientist with the Population Studies Center of the University of Michigan. Dr. Frey spoke on the changing geography of poverty because of immigration. Dr. Frey's research shows that the demographics, such as age, income levels, and ethnicity, of states with high levels of immigration change over time and differ from those of states with low immigration levels. This demographic change is also partially caused by the out-migration of non-immigrants with lower skill levels as "easy-entry" jobs are taken over by immigrants. Today, 54 percent of California's population is Anglo, 28 percent is Latino, and about 10 percent is Asian/Pacific Islander, according to Dr. Frey's research. He predicted, however, that by the year 2020, the Latino population will exceed the Anglo population. For copies of the materials handed out at the briefing, contact the Institute. DELEGATION AND STAFF TO BE BRIEFED ON K-12 EDUCATION ISSUES On Tuesday, April 8, representatives of California¹s education community will brief the California congressional delegation and staff on K-12 education issues and the state¹s share of funding. The briefing will take place in 2257 Rayburn House Office Building in Washington from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. and will be followed by a reception in the same room. Speakers at the briefing will include Trent Barton with Rep. Frank Riggs¹ office, Tom Bancroft of the Assn. of CA School Administrators, Judith Michaels of the CA Federation of Teachers, and Robert Walczak of Computer Using Educators. CENSUS BUREAU¹S NEW POVERTY ESTIMATES COULD BOOST CALIFORNIA¹S SHARE OF EDUCATION AND OTHER FORMULA GRANTS ... IF THEY ARE USED For the first time ever, the Census Bureau has developed county-level poverty data between decennial censuses, and those data may work to California¹s fiscal benefit. That is, however, if they are accepted as valid by the Secretaries of Commerce and Education. In data released last week, the Census Bureau found that California¹s housed 14.1% of the nation¹s children in poverty in 1993, up sharply from the state¹s 11.9% share in 1989. In raw numbers, the bureau estimates that the numbers of California¹s poor children jumped by nearly half a million over 4 years -- from 894,202 in 1989 to 1,388,380 in 1993 -- accounting for nearly 22% of all U.S. growth for that period. For decades, California and other growing states have suffered because poverty data, which is used to calculate formula grant funds for many programs, is collected only every 10 years and thus becomes more and more out-of-date as the decade progresses. Recognizing this problem, Congress required the Census Bureau to develop methods for estimating poverty and income data between censuses. The new data are part of a long-term effort to make such estimates. The National Research Council (NRC), charged with reviewing and rendering an opinion on the new data¹s validity, concluded that it should be used in part to distribute Title I education funds for FY97. The NRC proposes that the FY97 funds for Title I be based half on these new figures and half on 1990 decennial census figures. As the new model-based techniques are further evaluated, their use could be widened. The NRC panel concludes that, ³the Census Bureau's model-based estimates represent a significant step towards the provision of more up-to-date estimates of poverty for small geographic areas but that these estimates have not yet been sufficiently evaluated to serve as the sole basis for allocating funds under Title I.² In explaining their equivocation for 1997 Title I allocation usage, the panel stated that, ³the panel has had to balance its concerns about using the Census Bureau's model-based estimates against its concerns about using estimates based on the 1990 census data.² Thus, the NRC suggests allocating half of Title I funds for 1997 based on the new data and half based on the old 1990 data. Nevertheless, the NRC panel ³strongly endorses a model-based approach² and ³commends the Census Bureau for working to develop a specific model for this purpose.² According to the new data, 17.4% of California¹s residents were poor in 1993, well above the national poverty rate of 15.1%. Likewise, the state¹s child poverty rate of 24.1% was well above the national average of 20.4%. Within California, county poverty rates for children aged 5-17 ranged from a low of 7.4% in Marin County to a high of more than 37% in Fresno, Imperial, and Tulare Counties. After taking into account the recommendations of the NRC, it will be up to the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Education to decide whether the new data should be used this year. That finding will decide California¹s share of the $7 billion basic grant under Title I. For further information, contact the Institute. CALIFORNIA MEMBERS CIRCULATING ³DEAR COLLEAGUE² ON FUSION FUNDING In an effort to ensure funding for fusion science research, two Californians, Rep. Randy ³Duke² Cunningham (San Diego) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (San Jose), are among the seven Members of Congress circulating letters in support of the program. The letters encourage Science Committee Chair Jim Sensenbrenner and Energy and Water Appropriations Chair Joe McDade to authorize no less than the requested $225 million for the Department of Energy¹s Fusion Sciences Program in FY 1998. California research institutions and companies receive a large portion of federal fusion funding. After a 40% cut in the fusion budget over the last two years, DOE and the fusion community have restructured their program goals to fit its new smaller budget. Any further reductions could have a debilitating impact on current and future fusion research activities. In urging support for the requested funding levels, the letters¹ authors state that ³the fusion program encompasses exactly the type of research the federal government should support -- fundamental science -- not ready for investment by the public sector, but with important long term benefits.² Although the research is essentially ³basic² in nature, the fusion program has already ³yielded results that have led to many industrial applications, including the plasma processing of chips and circuits in the computer industry and the coating of materials for automotive components and machine tools.² Members wishing to sign the letters should, as soon as possible, contact either Tom Jones of Rep. Roscoe Bartlett¹s office (x52721) or John St. Croix of Rep. Tim Roemer¹s office (x53915). On a related note, Reps. George Brown and Vern Ehlers this week invited colleagues to a plasma sciences exhibit during the week of April 7th in the Rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building. Per the Ehlers/Brown letter, the display will be ³designed to teach us more about plasmas and to highlight many of the practical and scientific applications of plasma science.² The displays are a cooperative effort of several government, education and private entities including the Department of Energy, NASA General Atomics, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. TAX BOARD ENDORSES COX BILL TO PREVENT STATE TAXES ON THE INTERNET Earlier this week, the California Board of Equalization voted unanimously to endorse a measure introduced by Rep. Chris Cox (Newport Beach) which would create a national moratorium on state and local taxes on the Internet. With the Internet expected to become a $600 billion industry by the year 2000, it is likely that many taxing jurisdictions will take advantage of the opportunity to generate revenue from Internet transactions. Given California¹s dominant position in both the computer software/hardware and high technology industries, the state is well positioned to benefit economically from the emerging markets on the Internet. The prohibition does not extend to all state taxes, however. States will still be able to collect sales taxes on products delivered over the Internet as long as the taxes conform to other delivery purchase rates, such as mail order. CALIFORNIANS VOICE SUPPORT FOR CLINTON¹S STANDARDIZED TESTING PLAN After meeting with President Clinton on Wednesday, prominent California educators and leaders of the state¹s high technology industry voiced support for the President's plan to administer national educational exams. The proposal calls for a standardized reading test for all fourth-graders and a math test for all eighth-graders in 1999. Educating over 10% of the nation's children, California¹s school-age population would comprise a sizeable share of any national testing program. Among educators pledging their support for the plan was California school Superintendent Delaine Eastin who stressed the necessity of a national assessment exam that would allow students to gauge their educational progress and could offer states a tool for comparing the success of their students with those from other states and countries. However, for the proposal to be implemented in California it would need more than Eastin¹s support; the test must be approved by the State Board of Education. A spokesman for Governor Wilson said that, while Wilson favors tough academic standards and exams in general, he is reluctant to support the concept of a national test the content of which has yet to be settled. Further, the Governor feels that the responsibility for such a test should be at the state level. To date, only three states have officially supported the plan. CEO's of 240 high tech companies have pledged to lobby the remaining states to participate. The principal U.S. Department of Education official coordinating efforts for the national exam has strong California ties. Ramon Cortines, appointed Acting Assistant Secretary of Education earlier this week, has a long history as a California educator. Prior to his post as head of New York City¹s public schools, he served as superintendent of the San Francisco, San Jose and Pasadena school systems, and had been a U.S. Department of Education official previously STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL LUNGREN ADDRESSES CALIFORNIANS IN D.C. Dan Lungren, the Attorney General for the State of California, addressed attendees at a Golden State Roundtable lunch in Washington on March 26. Lungren discussed his initiatives to fight crime in the state and cited statistics showing the lower crime rate during his tenure as Attorney General. He also discussed his decision not to join with other states in the lawsuits against tobacco companies, citing apparent legal impediments in California's tort laws. The luncheon was hosted by AT&T. PACTEL/SBC MERGER APPROVED BY PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION On Tuesday, exactly one year to the day after the proposed Pacific Telesis and Southwestern Bell Company (SBC) merger was announced, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) gave final approval, by a four-to-one vote, to the massive $16.5 billion deal. PacTel owns and operates the San Francisco-based Pacific Bell which provides telephone service to most of California. The terms of the merger require that the newly combined company refund $214 million to consumers and set aside another $50 million over five years to bring new telecommunications technology to communities that have been historically underserved. Pacific Bell currently serves 77% of the state. The merger is the first in what some industry observers expect to be a series of mergers and acquisitions in the arena of telecommunications providers as a result of the recent ground-breaking deregulation law passed last year. In preparation for an increasingly competitive environment, more established telecommunications companies are attempting to restructure their organizations through mergers and acquisitions in order to better compete on the open market. Representatives of both SBC and PacTel claimed that the merger would help them create an additional 1,000 new jobs in the state, allow them to create four new headquarters operations located in California, and would produce a $100 million annual benefit to the state's economy.