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Sausaged

You Are There as Funding for the San Francisco Water Transit Authority is Passed into Law

 It hasn’t been easy getting the San Francisco Water Transit Authority up and running.

Strong and well-organized opposition has been active from the start. Environmentalists (worried about emissions), bus and BART advocates (jealous of their funding) and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (frantic at losing its death grip on Bay Area transportation planning) have all weighed in against ferries and the WTA.

Indeed, Senate Bill 428 which created the Authority last year barely squeaked by and then only thanks to the formidable backing of a Blue Ribbon Task Force admiraled by the powerful Ron Cowan and uber-politico Mayor Willie Brown.

Yet SB 428 only established the Authority as an entity. Getting money to do anything was another matter. But, thankfully, $12 million was put in this year’s budget to begin planning a comprehensive regional ferry system. It was approved by the Legislature – and then just as quickly - line item vetoed by the Governor.

The Governor explained to incensed ferry supporters that it was simply a technicality. He had told the Legislature that he wanted to pay for the Authority out of a special fund called the Public Transportation Account. It seems someone at the Legislature simply forgot about it and instead used the General Fund instead to pay for the Authority.

Prissy though it may seem of the Governor to snatch away $12 million simply because it came out of one pot of money instead of another (doesn’t it all come from the same place in the end?), what was done was done.

So ferry advocates rebanded to seek inclusion in what is known as a "technical correction bill". Such a bill’s sole purpose is to act as a carryall of corrections and adjustments to other bills. Staffers colorfully refer to them as "carcasses" and whisper that their use is sharply on the rise. The reason, they say, for so many sloppy laws filled with silly oversights is term limits. Lawmakers can’t stay around long enough to learn the craft of legislating for themselves, let alone pass it on to others. The institutional memory of our legislature has Alzheimer’s disease.

Ferry advocates were indeed fortunate to get their "correction" restoring the $12 million (this time from the proper account) included in a technical correction bill sponsored by the omnipotent Senator John L. Burton. A Burton bill is called a "juice bill", meaning powerful political mojo is involved. It has far greater chances of success than one sponsored by a lesser legislator.

But as this was being arranged – it took all summer – ferry supporters were taking hits on several fronts. MTC, though publicly philosophical, remained surly regarding the Water Transit Authority and promoted statistics designed to put ferry service in the worst possible light as a public transportation option. Environmentalists, lead by the feisty and press savvy Russell Long of the Bluewater Network, kept lobbing bombs. Ron Cowan, having achieved his goal of creating the Authority, stepped aside, creating a leadership vacuum while Charlene Johnson got up to speed after being appointed by Governor Davis as President of the Authority.

It is customary to leave technical correction bills until the very end of the legislative session, the better to wield maximum political leverage over supplicants desperate for some kind or the other of relief or reward.

And so it was that Marina Secchitano called me to say she wasn’t going to take any chances: she would personally go to Sacramento on the last day of the session — would stay all night if she had to – to make sure nothing went wrong with our technical correction juicer.

Marina is a triple threat ferry supporter: in her principal capacity she is Regional Director of the Inlandboatmen’s Union (odd that name, given it’s leader is a woman). The IBU is made up of ferry and tugboat crewmembers. Marina also was appointed by the State Senate to one of the eleven places on the Water Transit Authority Board. And finally she serves on the board of directors of Friends of a Regional Ferry Service, publishers of Bay Crossings.

Marina is all heart and guts, besides being a dear friend, and I simply couldn’t let her go alone. So I cancelled my plans and off we went together to Sacramento.

Driving to Sacramento is mind deadening. I amuse myself watching Marina keep two cellular phones in constant use. I watch a crop duster work, its fuselage looks just like a yellow flashlight.

Arriving in Sacramento, we go first to the offices of top lobbyist Kathleen Snodgrass. She had agreed to help out on a pro bono basis, there being no budget to pay her. We get a copy of our bill, which had been written just that morning, and head off to the Capitol Building to find the responsible staff person, Brian Kelly.

Brian works for Senator Burton. He’s a tall, engaging and immediately likable fellow who is in equal parts energetic and knowledgeable. He fairly well terrifies us by asking, "Say, I’m glad you’re here. What is the Water Transit Authority, anyway?"

Flabbergasted, we stutter out a 30-second, Cliff Notes version of the Authority’s mission. Even that, Brian makes us clearly to understand, is vastly overstating our case on this, the last day of the legislative session. Brevity and alacrity is all. We take a note.