BUSH BUDGET TO STING STATE TRANSIT, JAILS.

Byline: Bill Hillburg Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - President Bush's $1.96 trillion budget proposal contains plenty of potentially bad news for Southern California, including cuts in mass transit funding, disaster aid and criminal justice programs.

A White House spokesman claimed Monday that the administration's proposal, released as most Southern California lawmakers and their staffs were either on vacation or on fact-finding trips, fully funds California and national priorities.

Administration officials specifically cited a $4.9 billion increase in aid to public education. The Bush budget was vague when it came to funding for specific local projects.

``That's routine,'' noted Bill Grady, chief of staff to Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena. ``No administration is going to give Congress directions on local spending. It's up to the members to make the requests for those projects.''

Downsides in the proposal include a decrease in the federal share of spending for mass transit projects from the current 80 percent to 50 percent. That cut could have an impact on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is seeking more than $70 million in the 2001-02 federal budget for local projects.

Also, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's budget includes proposals that call for all public agencies in California to carry private earthquake insurance and would also cut the federal share of disaster aid from 75 percent to 50 percent.

``It's a double dose of bad news,'' said Tim Ransdell, director of the Washington-based California Institute, which tracks federal legislation and spending affecting the Golden State. He noted that California lawmakers last year defeated a similar FEMA plan.

Public agencies in the state, including local governments and school districts, now bear 25 percent of the cost of earthquake repairs out of their own funds while FEMA covers the balance.

Los Angeles County officials have estimated that they would have to cut services to cover an estimated $25 million yearly bill for additional self insurance on more than 500 structures.

The Bush budget would also slash funding to offset state and local costs for housing convicted undocumented aliens in jails and state prisons. Total funding nationwide would fall from $585 million to $265 million.

Southland lawmakers are seeking an increase in such funding, noting that state prisons and county and city jails in California house an estimated 40 percent of the nation's undocumented aliens convicted of crimes.

``There's a feeling that it's the federal government's job to screen incoming aliens and keep criminals out,'' Ransdell said. ``When they fail in that task, the feds should help with the cost of incarceration.''

David Foy, an aide to Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, said it was difficult to measure the exact impact of Bush's sweeping, yet vague, defense proposals on such key Antelope Valley projects as the joint strike fighter.

Foy noted that Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are still in the midst of a comprehensive review of the military's mission and weapons programs.

Deborah Bosick, spokeswoman for Boeing's office in Washington, D.C., said the company was pleased with a proposed increase of $2.8 billion to $3.16 billion for the C-17 Air Force transport program. Boeing employs 9,000 workers at its C-17 plant in Long Beach.

The program - scheduled to deliver 120 planes through 2004, including 13 this year - is crucial to Long Beach's economy.

``It's too early to tell this proposal's exact impact on the C-17 program,'' cautioned Bosick, who noted that many Pentagon policies and priorities are still taking shape. ``This is going to be a jump-through-the- hoops kind of year for the defense budget.''

On the energy front, the Bush administration seeks to expand oil exploration and production in Alaska and other areas but included a long- standing budget provision that bans the use of federal funds to support offshore drilling in the Santa Barbara area, Central Coast and Northern California.