Governor Rejects 2nd L.A. Prison Site in GOP Area

Gov. George Deukmejian on Wednesday flatly rejected demands that he consider building a second prison in a predominantly Republican area of Los Angeles County as a way of defusing Senate opposition to his plans for a prison near the heavily Democratic and Latino community of Boyle Heights.

“We don’t have time to go back and start looking at a lot of other sites,” Deukmejian said in an interview. “We have a very critical overcrowded prison situation on our hands. We’re trying to move as fast as we can, and we’ve had some people criticize us for not moving fast enough.”

Consideration of a second Los Angeles County prison site emerged as a key demand of opponents Saturday after the Senate, for the second time in as many weeks, rejected the governor’s request for $31.4 million to purchase land about two miles southeast of the Civic Center and begin construction on the county’s first state prison.

Sen. President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) said at the time that “equal attention should be paid to areas where Gov. Deukmejian has his friends.”

But Deukmejian, in remarks after a speech to a women’s conference at the Bonaventure, said more than 100 prison sites have already been considered in Los Angeles County--including several in Republican areas--and rejected as unsuitable. While he continued to hold out hope that a compromise might still be found, he emphasized that the chosen site near downtown is “the best for a number of reasons.”

The Republican governor also questioned the sincerity of Sen. Art Torres (D-South Pasadena), one of the Legislature’s chief opponents of the prison plan, saying “it is difficult to understand” how Torres can oppose the Eastside project when he voted for it when it first came before the Senate last year.

Torres has maintained that his early support for the plan was an effort to win concessions for his constituents. But on Wednesday, he said he and other prison opponents will agree to no further compromises, adding that consideration of a second prison site is “extremely important” to end community opposition.

The remarks by both Deukmejian and Torres further dampened hopes that an agreement can be reached on the stalled prison issue before the Legislature’s extended two-week session ends Sept. 15.

The governor and legislative leaders met at the Capitol for the second time Wednesday in an effort to resolve their differences over the prison and a dispute regarding $283 million in programs vetoed by Deukmejian.

Roberti, who left the meeting after about an hour to fly to a Los Angeles fund-raiser, said there was “a little bit” of progress on the prison issue and another session was scheduled for today.

But Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), a supporter of the Eastside prison, said, “I am not optimistic about a solution being reached this week.”

Even as negotiations appeared stalled, however, Administration officials reportedly were considering a parliamentary maneuver that would allow passage of the prison legislation on a simple majority vote, rather than the two-thirds needed under the existing bill. That could make a crucial difference, because the legislation fell only two votes short of a two-thirds majority in the Senate on Saturday.

Signed Into Law

The maneuver involves removal of a so-called urgency clause, which allows legislation to become effective on the date it is signed into law, rather than the following January, as is the case for all other bills.

Doing so would require the governor to call a special legislative session. Under the state Constitution, a session extended by vote of the legislators themselves may deal only with urgency bills

Rodney J. Blonien, undersecretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, said Deukmejian has discussed that course of action with legislative leaders over the past two days.

The tactic would not guarantee passage of the prison bill, however, because it still must be approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose members overwhelmingly oppose the Eastside prison.

“We’re really no closer (to an agreement),” Blonien said.

High Percentage

Pressure to resolve the issue is coming primarily from a four-year-old law that bars the state from opening two new prisons currently under construction in San Diego County and near Stockton until a Los Angeles County prison is officially authorized. Demands for a state prison in Los Angeles have been building for years in recognition that Los Angeles County produces a high percentage of the state’s prisoners--currently about 38%--but has no state prison.

Both the San Diego and Stockton prisons are scheduled to open about the time of the November elections, giving Deukmejian a potent issue to use against Democrats who oppose his plan.