By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

April 10 -- A controversial State bill targeting Santa Monica airport pollution is back, but how the tweaked bill will fly the second time around remains a looming question.

Similar to legislation introduced last year by Assembly member Ted Lieu -- whose district abuts Santa Monica and its airport -- the new bill would measure aircraft idle and taxi times as a first step for later pollution studies, according to specific language added last week.

This year, however, no mandate will be added for Santa Monica to move forward with a nearly $500,000 study that spurred a clash last year between City officials and State legislators representing Santa Monica, according to Lieu's office.

"What we are trying to do is work with Santa Monica on the issue," said David Ford, Lieu's chief of staff. "Their biggest concern was the mandate for the City to do something, and what we are doing in the new bill is addressing that concern."

If the bill passes, the State Air Resources Board, and not the City, would take up the review.

Whether the change will be enough to garner critical support from Santa Monica officials and adjoining State legislators currently in talks with Lieu remains up in the air.

"I think (the bill) is moving in the right direction and I think that Ted and myself and our staffs are engaged on the issue," said Assembly member Julia Brownley, a former local School Board member elected to the State legislature last November.

While she believes more details would need to be hashed out, Brownley said she is generally supportive of the bill.

"We all think that something needs to be done,” she said. “The question now is how do we get there."

Some officials want to defer taking specific action until the results of a pollution test being conducted by the Air Quality Management District are released this fall.

"I think that everybody is anxiously awaiting the results of the AQMD study… and I hope that (Lieu's) intentions with this bill would be to build on the results of that study," Brownley said.

City officials said the changes in the bill are a step in the right direction, but held off on any promise of support.

"We are relieved this is not an unfunded State mandate," said Kate Vernez, the City's assistant for Community and Government Relations. "As to the specific language, we will have to bring it back to the City Council first."

The council is expected to take up a formal resolution supporting or opposing the proposed law sometime this month, Vernez said.

Meanwhile, even as talks continue, Lieu and Los Angeles City Council member Bill Rosendahl plan to speak to neighborhood groups at an Earth Day demonstration April 21 aimed at demanding immediate action on the issue.

"The purpose of the rally will be just to draw attention to the issue," Ford said. "We know anecdotally about the pollution these planes cause, but what we need now is some hard data so someone does something about the problem."

Despite the public push to pass the legislation, Ford said Lieu hopes to avoid the confrontational atmosphere that materialized around the hotly debated issue last year.

"The bill last year was very contentious between our office and other state legislators, such as Fran Pavley, whose opinion we respect very much," Ford said, referring to the former legislator, who is running for State Senate next year.

"The lines of communication are open, which is a positive step so we are not perceived as just throwing grenades on the issue."

AB 700 is now working its way through the Assembly committees and will need to be heard before April 26 in order for the legislature to act on the bill.