BOLAND BILL CLOSE TO VOTE : VALLEY LEGISLATION ON SENATE AGENDA.

Byline: Mark Katches Daily News Sacramento Bureau

Assemblywoman Paula Boland's controversial bill to restore the right of self-determination in any secession drive to the San Fernando Valley was moved to the floor of the state Senate on Tuesday after being bottled up in committees for nearly two months.

The unanimous vote of 37 senators to post the bill to the upper house agenda set the stage for a dramatic showdown as early as today with Boland, R-Granada Hills, still two votes short of victory at last count.

Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer, D-Hayward, announced to the full Senate that he was granting Boland's wish by avoiding any further committee hearings on AB 2043.

``The assemblywoman indicated to me this morning that she would prefer . . . to have the bill come to the floor and have a vote,'' said Lockyer, rising to address his colleagues. ``It might be brought up on the floor I guess as early as (today).''

Under the Senate rules, Boland's supporters could put the matter to a vote any time in the next three days. Boland said she is not sure when she will try to push her bill.

``I'm still trying to get all my ducks in a row,'' Boland said. ``This has always been an uphill fight. It's been an uphill fight since Day One. This has never been easy. It's never been a slam-dunk. But we're now on the floor where we always wanted to be. We want an up or down vote.''

The bill would remove the council's veto power imposed by the Legislature 20 years ago during heated talk of Valley secession. Boland's measure would replace the veto with a straight vote of the people in the area seeking to form its own city.

Boland is allowed to postpone a vote on the bill for two days, meaning the measure must come to a vote by Friday or it will be moved to the inactive file, the equivalent of legislative purgatory.

Now with the matter set, she can focus intensely on lobbying senators she may be able to sway, but observers said they might be a difficult task. Lockyer has a tight grip on his majority caucus and many Northern California senators have said they see no reason to support Boland over their influential leader.

The Senate president controls the campaign fund-raising efforts of the upper house and can reward loyal lieutenants with thousands of dollars to wage election battles and with plum committee assignments.

Boland said she is hoping that Democrats will find it difficult to vote against a bill that she says simply gives democratic voting rights back to the people of Los Angeles.

``We want to see who in fact will vote for democracy rather than politics,'' Boland said. ``I'm hoping that democracy will prevail in this vote rather than voting as the leadership tells members to vote. That's how we'll win it or lose it - on people's commitment to democracy.''

Boland's bill moved swiftly through the Republican-controlled Assembly but has been stalled in the Senate. It was parked for six weeks in the Senate Rules Committee while Lockyer developed a set of amendments that would have gutted the bill.

Two weeks ago, Lockyer told Boland he had counted votes and that she was two votes short of passage on her ``best day,'' and challenged her to have the bill sent to the floor without any amendments.

Undaunted by the challenge, she called for the issue to be sent to the floor, knowing she was at least two votes shy of the magic number of 21 needed to pass her measure in its current form.

As of now, she is counting on the support of 16 Republicans, and the Valley contingent's two Democrats, Sens. Tom Hayden and Herschel Rosenthal. Her other firm backer is South San Francisco independent Quentin Kopp.

Observers said her best bet will be to target the five Northern California Democrats who are term-limited and have less reason to feel pressure from Lockyer.

She also will try to recruit Santa Barbara Democrat Jack O'Connell, who supported Boland's school break-up bill last year, and independent Lucy Killea of San Diego, sources said.

If Boland can manage one more vote, the bill's fate would fall into the lap of Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, who, as president of the Senate, has the duty to break 20-20 ties.

If Davis is called upon, it would be the second time this week he was asked to cast a deciding vote. Before this week, 20 years had passed since the second highest ranking statewide official had been pressed into duty on the Senate floor.

The former San Fernando Valley assemblyman did not return phone calls Tuesday.

Because her work is cut out for her, it is more likely Boland will wait until Friday, giving her as much time as possible to lobby.

Another reason Boland may choose to delay a vote until the last possible minute would be to allow constituents to weigh in.

Valley VOTE - a grass-roots group of Valley civic organizations - is urging its members to fax, write or call all 40 state senators in a last-minute lobbying blitz intended to sway Democrats who are expected to attempt to kill the bill.

``I don't think it should be a foregone conclusion that this is a dead issue,'' said Jeff Brain, co-chairman for Valley VOTE. ``We are not targeting individual senators, we're hitting them all.''

City lobbyists were busy trying to defeat the bill by talking to some of the same lawmakers Boland may try to persuade to join her.

``I'll be pacing outside the Senate chambers,'' said city lobbyist Leslie McFadden, who is not allowed onto the floor and must wait to buttonhole members as they enter and leave the chambers.

With hundreds of bills nearing deadlines for action, several Democrats say they have not given the Boland bill any thought.

``It's just not even on my radar screen,'' said Sen. Steve Peace, D-La Mesa.

In her brief discussion with Lockyer before Tuesday's floor session, Boland reiterated her request to move the bill straight to the floor, bypassing the Senate Appropriations Committee where it was expected to be drastically amended or possibly killed.

``I think she's going to get what she's entitled to and that is a fair vote,'' said Sen. Charles Calderon, D-Montebello, who opposes the bill. ``There are no shenanigans, no games being played. The issue is out there for everyone to see and everyone's conduct to observe.''

Boland made her choice to send the bill to the floor Aug. 14, but Lockyer delayed setting the bill before the full upper house until Boland had time to analyze his proposed amendments, which include spending $1.2 million on an economic study of a Valley split but no guarantee that the council's veto power would be removed.

Boland steadfastly has rejected the Lockyer amendments, but hasn't ruled out trying to seek a compromise in which the council would lose its veto power in exchange for a citywide vote on any secession issue.

Lockyer has said he will not sanction any compromise efforts on the floor, saying that no amendments will be accepted. But he said that if the bill is defeated, he might leave a door open for Boland.

``I've explained to her that after the vote, if it doesn't go well for her point of view, we can talk again about amendment possibilities,'' Lockyer said.

Though he has no legal authority to stop senators from introducing amendments to the Boland bill on the floor, Lockyer said he has spoken to leaders on both sides of the aisle to discourage it.

Boland was dealt a minor setback Tuesday when Kopp turned down her request to be her ``floor jockey'' - the designated senator who leads the debate in the upper house.