Volume 4, Bulletin 23 -- July 1, 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. Unanimous Delegation Supports Illegal Alien Criminal Incarceration Funding; Governor Lauds Effort The entire California House Congressional Delegation of 52 members sent a letter last week to Rep. Hal Rogers (KY), Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary and Related Agencies urging his subcommittee to fund the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) at its full authorization level of $650 million. Reps. David Dreier (San Dimas), Gary Condit (Ceres), Jerry Lewis (Redlands), and Lucille Roybal-Allard (Los Angeles) initiated the letter on the delegation's behalf. Last year, Congress funded the program to help reimburse states for the costs of incarcerating illegal criminal aliens at $500 million. California and its local governments received about $270 million of the total; however, the state estimates that it will cost about $452 million in the coming year to incarcerate illegal criminal aliens. Under the crime bill, the program level for SCAAP is authorized for funding at $650 million. The delegation's letter points out that the Subcommittee received about $1.7 billion in funding over last year's level and urges the Chairman to earmark some of that increase to provide full funding for the SCAAP program. On Monday, Governor Pete Wilson lauded the delegation's efforts, stating that the "issue has transcended party lines and unified federal and state leaders because it is a matter of fundamental fairness." Congressional Western Water Caucus Announces Brown Bag Lunch on Mission of the Bureau of Reclamation The Congressional Western Water Caucus will hold a brown bag lunch on Wednesday, July 9, 1997 from Noon to 2:00 P.M. in Room SC-5 of the Capitol. The briefing is the third in a series of briefings hosted by the bipartisan caucus to improve understanding of western water issues. Panelists will include Betsy Cody, Natural Resources Specialist, Congressional Research Service; Marcus Faust, Washington Representative, City of Las Vegas; Leslie Friedman Johnson, The Nature Conservancy; Mark Limbaugh, The Family Farm Alliance; Steven Matloch, attorney in environmental law and western water policy; Jason Peltier, Central Valley Project Water Association; and Steve Richardson, Director, Policy and External Affairs, U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. The panel will discuss the Bureau of Reclamation's plan to redefine its mission from its historic focus on construction and irrigation to that of water resources management, and the panelists' visions of the Bureaus future. For more information, contact Colleen Deegan, 224-4521, or Will Hollier, 225-5531. Federal Refugee Assistance by County: FY 1997 Last month, the Federal Register released the total targeted refugee assistance allocations figures for Fiscal Year 1997. The formula for determining federal assistance to counties is based upon the initial placement of refugees, Amerasians, and entrants into counties during the five year period from FY 1992 through FY 1996. California's more than $9 million share of the national $35.4 million total allocation (or approximately 26% of the federal allocation) is easily the largest single state share, outpacing both Texas and Florida. FY 1997 Federal Refugee Assistance to California by County County Refugees Entrants Havana Parolees Total Arrivals FY 92-96 FY 97 Allocation Alameda 4,944 21 6 4,971 $383,361 Fresno 5,841 2 0 5,843 450,609 Los Angeles 25,794 689 216 26,699 2,059,012 Merced 1,541 0 0 1,541 118,841 Orange 22,500 38 12 22,550 1,739,044 Sacramento 12,288 5 2 12,295 948,184 San Diego 12,457 516 147 13,120 1,011,807 San Francisco* 11,076 195 64 11,335 874,149 San Joaquin 2,434 7 2 2,443 188,403 Santa Clara 16,297 50 9 16,356 1,261,366 Total California 115,172 1,523 458 117,153 $ 9,034,776 * Includes surrounding counties. Tahoe Forum Calls for New Land Management Approach Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, and Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck along with Nevada Senators Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, converged on Lake Tahoe earlier this week for the second of what will be three forums focusing on rethinking the current approaches to land and forest management and restoring the Tahoe basin to a healthy environment. Specifically, the focus of this second forum was the management, health, and prognosis for the Tahoe forest and alternative ways of managing the largely government-owned land. The resulting diagnosis was that contemporary approaches -- logging dead and dying trees, or salvage logging -- are adding to the destruction of forests such as that of Tahoe's. In other words, the Tahoe forum concluded that by allowing forests to grow unrestricted and free of natural fires, the forests have become so overcrowded and dense that the unnatural success of the forests threaten to destroy them. In response, Secretary Babbitt said that he will suggest to President Clinton -- who, along with Vice President Gore will attend the final forum in late July -- that the government increase the current controlled burns of 200 acres-per-year at Tahoe National Forest, to as many as 10,000 acres-per-year, and increase live biomass logging in order to help restore the habitat to its natural density. California Research Universities Fare Well in Recent Study In the recent book titled The Rise of American Research Universities: Elites and Challengers in the Postwar Era, California's research universities are given high marks in nearly every category measured. Aimed at evaluating key features associated with the rise of American research universities after World War II, the book notes the increased success of such institutions in both international competition for recognition and prestige and in competing with one another in the research enterprise. In considering the success of American institutions as a whole, authors Hugh Davis Graham and Nancy Diamond compare the research performance of faculty and federal R&D funding levels at more than two hundred universities since the 1960's. In the earliest post-WWII evaluation of the nation's research institutions, California was well represented. In 1968, seven California universities (Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, UC San Diego, Caltech, USC, and UC San Francisco) ranked in the top 35 colleges receiving federal R&D dollars. By 1990, eight California institutions placed in the top 32 public institutions for levels of federal R&D funding (1-UC Riverside, 2-UC San Diego, 3-UCLA, 4-UC Berkeley, 6-UC Irvine, 11-UC Davis, 18-UC Santa Cruz, 27-UC Santa Barbara). California research institutions also experienced an improving trend in the quality of faculty performance. In 1974, three California schools were placed in the top twenty social science index, six in the top twenty arts & humanities index and five in the top twenty science index. In a 1996 evaluation charting the top 33 nationally ranked and rising public research universities (combining all three above mentioned indices), California institutions held eight spaces. The strong showing was largely due to the state's domination of the "rising universities" category. Stanford (1st) and Caltech (13th) also made strong showings in the rankings of private research universities on the same criteria. Report Shows Strong Los Angeles Manufacturing Industry A recently released study by the L.A. Economic Development Corporation shows that, despite the recession of the early 1990s, Los Angeles remains a major manufacturing center, ranked second to only Chicago. The report, titled Manufacturing in Los Angeles, cited Labor Department figures estimating an average of 646,100 manufacturing workers in L.A. County. This figure is bolstered by 211,800 additional jobs in Orange County, 100,000 workers in the Riverside-San Bernardino area, and 30,000 manufacturing positions in Ventura County. Although the departure of aerospace firms did result in an initial manufacturing drain on the L.A. area, several factors have contributed to a turnaround in the region's production industry. Regular growth in apparel manufacturing is one cause, although some are concerned about the impact of NAFTA on this industry. The return of some manufacturing jobs in the areas of defense and space programs, and commercial aircraft production have also been instrumental. Finally, the development of "new technology" industries, such as fusion, are revitalizing the region's manufacturing economy. For a copy of the report, contact the LAEDC at 213-622-4300. GAO Warns Congress of Possible Problems with EELV Development In a June report entitled Access to Space: Issues Associated with DOD's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Program, the General Accounting Office (GAO) warns Congress that the development of the EELV -- a satellite deployment vehicle -- may be rife with problems that threaten to delay both the development and implementation of the EELV, and could result in substantial cost over-runs. Currently, two contractors -- Lockheed Martin Astronautics and McDonell Douglas Aerospace -- are competing in the pre-development stage to win the $2 billion contract. If Lockheed Martin prevails, the company is expected to manufacture the EELV in California, conceivably at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works division in Palmdale. As a large international market for commercial satellites, particularly communication satellites, begins to balloon, the obvious commercial application of the EELV satellite deployment vehicle could very well prove to be an immensely lucrative supplement to the government's purchases. Additionally, the production of the EELV would give the winning contractor an unmistakable edge over other competitors in the emerging international commercial market. In July of 1996, the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works division in Palmdale won a $900 million, three-year contract to build the X-33, a prototype reusable launch vehicle (RLV) similar to the EELV. State Public Policy Information on the Web A number of state policy resources have begun to debut on the worldwide web over the last year. These various sources can provide invaluable, updated information on state public policy such as immigration, juvenile justice, taxation, and welfare. The following is a brief list of resources that the Institute suggests: The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO): The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) provides analysis and nonpartisan advice to the California Legislature on fiscal and policy issues, and has done so for over fifty years. The LAO is overseen by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC), a 14-member bipartisan committee composed of an equal number of Assembly and Senate members. The office currently has a staff of 46, 36 analytical and 10 support, who serve as a nonpartisan staff resource to all legislators. The LAO can be accessed at http://www.lao.ca.gov. Policy Information Clearinghouse On-Line (PICO): The non-partisan Senate Office of Research's PICO Project is designed to provide a one-stop source of information on some of the major policy issues facing California and the Legislature. In PICO you will find an overview of many of the latest issues, 1997-98 legislation, relevant research, reports, and Web Sites, and upcoming events. PICO can be accessed at http://sen.ca.gov/ftp/sen/sor/_home/picohome.htm. CEDAR: CEDAR is an Internet information project of the California State Library and its California Research Bureau, and the Trade and Commerce Agency, with funding from the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. CEDAR can be accessed at http://www.cedar.ca.gov. California Economy Continues Upswing; Home Prices Up; Joblessness Down Home sales prices in Southern California continued to grow, recording the biggest increase in over five years, according to the California Association of Realtors and Transamerica Intellitech. The median price of a home in Southern California rose to $185,360 from the $179,100 median price in May of 1996. The most significant increase of 10.3 percent was recorded in the Palm Springs/Lower Desert area, with Los Angeles and Ventura recording the lowest increases at 1.4 percent each. In addition, the number of homes sold grew at a 2.9 percent rate, from 544,690 home sales this May compared to 529,540 sales in May of last year. Unemployment in California also continued its downward trend, with the state's unemployment rate down to 6 percent (seasonally adjusted) compared with 6.5 percent in April and 7.3 percent in May of 1996. The recent rate is the lowest California's unemployment rate has been since its 6.1 percent level in September 1990. About 415,000 jobs have been added to the state since last May, for a total employment in California currently of 14,843,000.