FACEOFF COMING ON TRANSIT BILL.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

With the U.S. Senate passing a mammoth, six-year transportation spending bill Thursday, the battle now shifts to the House, where ideology smacks into pork-barrel prerogatives, and to the states, which have more control over where money is spent than ever.

Gov. Pete Wilson's administration warned that under the Senate bill, the percentage of gas tax money being returned to California would slip slightly, from 9.33 percent to 9.14 percent.

``Here's the bottom line: In 1991, we had a bigger slice of the basic pie than we do under this Senate bill,'' said Steve Tatum, a spokesman for the state's Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. ``This slice should not be getting smaller, no matter how you cut it. It really is an issue of parity.''

But a spokesman for Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said the $214 billion Senate version guarantees the state will get back at least 91 percent of the gasoline taxes its residents pay, bringing in $289 million more per year for highway funding than under the bill's 1991 predecessor.

And several specialized categories of funding - including high-density transportation areas, trade corridors and border infrastructure, and congestion management and air quality - would likely send tens of millions of dollars to California in general and Los Angeles in particular, said Boxer communications director David Sandretti.

``If you add up all the programs we're getting and all the nonemergency funding, I don't think we should be turning green with jealousy over what some other state gets,'' Sandretti said.

California, with its huge delegation, has more political heft in the House than the Senate, and Rep. Bud Shuster, powerful chairman of the Surface Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is seeking an even larger appropriation, but he faces opposition from budget hawks.

San Fernando Valley-area congressmen said they hope to push several projects through that can help their districts.

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills, said he wants money for 5.3 miles of bicycle trails.

Getting money from Congress for such projects as improving the 101-405 freeway interchange is unlikely, he said.

``The vast majority of money goes to states through formulas,'' Sherman said. ``Caltrans is going to be making a lot more decisions about how this money is spent than the 52 of us (from California) in the House.''

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Mission Hills, had a similarly modest shopping list, seeking only $1 million for road improvements around the Hansen Dam Recreation Area and $600,000 for improvements to the San Fernando Metrolink station, said spokesman Doug Campbell.

Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, bolstered perhaps by his party's majority, asked for six highway projects worth $156 million, though he was told last year to cut the request by about 95 percent, said press secretary David Foy.

Many final decisions will be made by the California Transportation Commission and, under a recent state law, local bodies such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Bob Remen, the CTC's executive director, said he had yet to analyze the Senate bill, though he said it's clear that the state and local agencies will have more money available for transportation projects than the $4.6 billion they estimated in December.

``It's encouraging that funds collected to fund transportation are going to be used for it,'' Remen said.

An array of complex formulas and political maneuvering will be key factors in dividing the money.

``It's a wonderful dilemma to be in,'' Remen said.