California Institute Capitol Hill Bulletin, Thursday, October 9, 1997 Page 1 [--- Unable To Translate Box ---] The California Institute For Federal Policy Research 419 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, D.C. 20003 202-546-3700 fax:202-546-2390 ransdell@calinst.org www.calinst.org California Capitol Hill Bulletin Volume 4, Bulletin 33 -- October 2, 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. Commerce, State, Justice Bill Approved by House Late Tuesday evening, the House passed the fiscal 1998 spending bill for the Commerce, Justice, and State departments on a 227-199 vote. In total, the spending bill will provide a sum of $31.7 billion on a variety of programs. Of particular interest to Californians are provisions that would: authorize a study of the impact and ramifications of the possible division of the Federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Earlier in September, the entire 52-member California congressional delegation authored a letter to Commerce, Justice, and State Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers (KY) urging the committee to reject a Senate rider that would automatically split the 9th Circuit into two circuits. Istead the delegation supported the establishment of the bipartisan commission to study the financial and caseload impact of any possible separation (see Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 31 -- 9/18/97); prohibit the Census Bureau from using any monies for sampling or other statistical adjustments pertaining to the 2000 census until the Supreme Court has an opportunity to rule on the constitutionality of such methods. On a 197-228 vote, the House rejected an amendment that, like the Senate¹s language, would have allowed preliminary work on sampling so long as the Census Bureau did not make any irreversible decisions regarding the sampling issue. The House version of the bill would preclude the Bureau¹s use of sampling in its forthcoming ³dress rehearsal² in Sacramento in March; provide $600 million in funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) to reimburse the states for the costs of incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens. Earlier this year, all 52 members of the delegation signed a letter to Chairman Rogers supporting full funding for the program (see Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 23 - -7/1/97). The Senate bill, however, contains only $500 million in funding for SCAAP, so the difference will have to be resolved in conference. Of the $500 million funded last year, California received over $270 million; and include report language, proposed by Rep. Steve Horn (Long Beach), urging the Administration to renegotiate prisoner transfer treaties with foreign governments to ensure that criminal aliens are expeditiously returned to their home countries for completion of their prison sentences with assurances that the entire sentence will be served. Congress passes energy and water appropriations Bill for Fiscal year 1998 On Tuesday, the House and Senate passed the conference report for the Energy and Water Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1998, clearing the measure for the President. The House vote was 404-17; the Senate vote 99-0. The bill included funding for: the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at $229 million; the Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS) program at $60 million; and, the Atomic Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for $224.8 million. The Conferees also approved $85 million for the Bay-Delta restoration project and $232 million in fusion funding. The Energy and Water Appropriations bill is one of only four appropriations bills (out of 16) completed by Congress before the end of the fiscal year. A Continuing Resolution (H.J.Res. 94) is currently keeping the government operating until October 23. Senate Finance Advances Fast-Track; House Outlook Uncertain On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee approved its version of the fast-track trade agreement authorizing bill, in the hopes of giving it enough momentum for passage before Congress adjourns this year. After a closed door meeting between Committee members and U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky to hammer out a final compromise, the Committee quickly reported out a modified version of the fast-track bill circulated earlier this week by Chairman William Roth (DE). The Roth proposal includes language denoting labor and environmental standards as negotiating objectives of the United States, but does not allow their inclusion in the core trade agreement unless they are directly related to trade. Any trade agreement that would require statutory changes to U.S. labor or environmental law would be expressly denied fast-track authority under the bill. The Administration supports the Roth bill. On the House side, meanwhile, the Ways and Means Committee heard from Ambassador Barshefsky on Tuesday. Pssage of the legislation this year remains uncertain in the House, with many members still objecting to the exclusion of labor and environmental standards from any agreement that utilizes the fast-track process. During the hearing, Rep. Bob Matsui (Sacramento), a leading proponent of reauthorizing fast-track, called on the business community to step up its efforts to promote passage this year. The Committee is scheduled to mark up the bill next week. Endangered Species Act Revision Moves to Full Senate On Tuesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee overwhelmingly approved S.1180, the bipartisan Endangered Species Act (ESA) authored by Sens. Kempthorne (ID), Reid (NV), Chafee (RI), and Baucus (MT), on a 14-3 vote. The landmark ESA legislation ­ for which the President has already signaled support ­ now moves to the full Senate for consideration, likely before the tentatively scheduled adjournment date of November 7. The federal legislation bears a striking resemblance to state legislation signed by the Governor last week both in its content and its broad coalition of support. The federal legislation that moves to the Senate floor, like its cousin in the state house, has the intent of creating incentives for landowners to protect endangered species and create safe habitats without direct government oversight. The federal legislation also: allows states to assume responsibility for development of recovery plans; temporarily suspends some federal oversight of endangered species during an emergency involving pipelines or utilities; and requires a delisting of endangered species, when the recovery goal for the species has been met. At the heart of the state legislation regarding endangered species is the restoration of the authority of the state Department of Fish and Game to issue "incidental take" permits to developers who kill endangered species or damage protected habitat as a byproduct of development projects. In addition, developers would be required to make a proportional contribution for direct damage to wildlife or rare plants ­ either by way of monetary retribution or, in most instances, in the form of providing environmentally valuable lands elsewhere (see Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 30 -- 9/11/97). House passes six-month Extension of Istea On Wednesday, the House passed by voice vote legislation that would extend the nation's current transportation law for six-months (H.R. 2516). Last week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the short-term reauthorization and delayed until next spring action on Chairman Bud Shuster's (PA) long-term proposal, known as BESTEA (see Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 32 -- 9/25/97). Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee met briefly to consider the revenue provisions of its own long-term highway and mass transit funding reauthorization (ISTEA II). Before passing the bill, the Committee extended present highway trust fund excise taxes six years to match the bill's six year reauthorization period, provided some relief for freight railroads, and created an Infrastructure Bond Program. The Senate now must decide whether to pass the House's short-term reauthorization bill or to proceed with its own long-term proposal this fall. House Resources Subcommittee Convenes Salton Sea Field Hearing/$6 Million Earmarked for Aid On Friday the House Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power will hold a field hearing in Palm Desert to discuss the future of the Salton Sea, a massive inland lake located south of Palm Springs. The field hearing will be chaired by Subcommittee Chairman John Doolittle (Rocklin) and will be attended by each member of the Salton Sea Taskforce ­ Rep. Ken Calvert (Riverside), Rep. Jerry Lewis (Redlands), Rep. George Brown (San Bernardino), Rep. Duncan Hunter (El Cajon), and Rep. Sonny Bono (Palm Springs). Of particular concern to the participants is the fact that the Salton Sea ­ the water source for much of the inland empire's vast agricultural lands ­ has become increasingly salinized to unusable levels and is currently at a critical point as far as sustaining riparian and aquatic wildlife. The shallow 380 square-mile water bed, which sits 227 feet below sea level, is almost 25 percent saltier than the ocean. If left unchecked, the Salton Sea, which has no outlet, will continue to increase in saline level and eventually become unusable. Today, Rep. Lewis announced that a House-Senate negotiating panel approved Lewis¹ request to include $6 million earmarked for Salton Sea restoration efforts. One million dollars will be allotted to the University of Redlands¹ Department of Environmental Studies to continue an ongoing environmental restoration study pertaining to the Salton Sea. The remaining $5 million will go to the Salton Sea Authority, a consortium of local officials dedicated to the future of the natural resource. Rep. Brown lauded the strength of the bipartisan coalition of Members and the balance being struck with state water agencies, stakeholders, and the administration, and expressed hope that a California-Federal coalition of interests similar to that amassed for the Bay-Delta estuary can be maintained. Census Bureau releases Annual Income, Poverty, and Health Care Coverage reports for 1996 On Monday, the Census Bureau released income, poverty and health insurance coverage rates for 1996. Overall, the study showed that incomes increased modestly for the typical American household. Between 1995 and 1996, median household income increased $410 or 1.2 percent, to $35,492. However, poverty remained steady; the number of poor remained unchanged at 36.5 million or 13.7 percent. Finally, the number of people without health insurance remained steady at 15.6 percent. [--- Unable To Translate Box ---] California kept pace with the rest of the nation. California's average income rose slightly for the third consecutive year to $38,812 and its poverty declined by half a percentage point to 16.8%. Poverty in the Los Angeles metropolitan area also fell by half a percentage point, but remained higher than state and national averages at 18.7%. Approximately 20.1 percent of Californians are not covered by health insurance, slightly higher than the national average for 1996. The Census Bureau said that the reason the nation's poverty rate did not change while median income increased significantly lies in the distribution of income changes. Average income fell 1.8 percent for those with the lowest incomes, while the average income rose 1.5 and 2.2 percent, respectively, for middle and top income earners. Though there was no year-to-year change in overall income inequality, according to the Census Bureau, the long-term trend in the U.S. has been toward increasing income inequality. For more information, contact the Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division directly at 301/763-8576 or visit their web site at www.census.gov. House And Senate Committees To Consider Internet Tax Moratorium Measure The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will mark up legislation imposing a moratorium on state and local taxes on Internet transactions on Tuesday, October 7, according to the Committee Chairman John McCain (AZ). In addition, Rep. Chris Cox (Newport Beach), author of the House bill, H.R. 1054, has indicated that he expects the House Judiciary and Commerce Committees to move on his bill next week as well. The measure would impose the moratorium pending a study of international and national taxing systems to determine how best to respond to the growth of commercial transactions on the Internet. With the Internet expected to become a $600 billion industry by the year 2000, it is likely that without the moratorium many taxing jurisdictions would 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, and care must be taken not to subject commercial transactions to multiple taxes that would harm their competitiveness. The tax 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. Immigration Commission Recommends Dismantling INS The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform submitted its final report to Congress on Tuesday. The bipartisan advisory commission established in 1990 made several broad recommendations for future immigration reform. Chief among them, is its suggestion that the Immigration and Naturalization Service be dismantled and its programs distributed among the Departments of State, Justice, and Labor. The Commission's report, entitled Becoming an American: Immigration and Immigrant Policy, also recommends: decreasing the level of immigration to the U.S.; stepping up efforts to assimilate immigrants fully into the American culture; replacing the current multitude of nonimmigrant visa categories with five broader categories; easing restrictions on welfare benefits for legal immigrants; and improving efforts to deport illegal immigrants. The report can be ordered from the Commission at 202-776-8400. NASA To Select Edwards AFB For X-33 Launch According to a preliminary study released this week, NASA will launch the X-33 reusable launch vehicle from Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California. The spacecraft will be built by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in nearby Palmdale, in collaboration with Boeing¹s Rocketdyne division and other California partners. While a final decision will not be made for several weeks, press reports indicate that any further deliberations will be pro forma.