Sheriff losing showdowns on two ballot initiative bids.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca's quest to bring in more revenues for law enforcement through two voter initiatives is on shaky ground.

Proposition 68, which would expand casino-style gaming to certain card clubs and racetracks if Indian tribes refused to turn over 25 percent of their revenues to the state, was dealt a severe blow last month when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reached agreement on a compromise with five Indian tribes.

They agreed to turn over to the state $250 million a year in gaming revenues plus $1 billion in the coming fiscal year that would fund transportation projects. The Legislature will likely approve the pact, although it's being challenged in court by a San Diego County-based Indian tribe.

As part of this deal, Schwarzenegger has pledged to campaign against the initiative that Baca co-sponsored. That initiative would break Indian tribes' monopoly on casino-style gaming by granting 11 card clubs and five racetracks around the stale the right to install 30,000 slot machines, raising an estimated $300 million a year for statewide law enforcement. But with Schwarzenegger campaigning against it, the initiative is unlikely to pass. Baca is also wing to place a half-cent sales tax measure on the L.A. County ballot in November that would generate about $500 million a year for local law enforcement agencies, with one-third of that going to Baca's department.

Baca's department has been hit hard with $166 million in cuts over the last two years.

But this initiative appears likely to fall just short of garnering the 171,000 signatures needed to place it on the November ballot. (The sheriff submitted 173,000 signatures to the county registrar last week but expected about 10 percent to be ruled invalid.)

When it became apparent that the initiative would probably not get the necessary signatures, Baca turned to the county supervisors and asked board members to place the measure on the ballot.

But last Tuesday, the board voted to postpone consideration of Baca's measure for two weeks, pending the addition of certain safeguards and other changes. Supervisors Gloria Molina and Don Knabe said they want to make sure the county had additional dollars to prosecute and house all of the suspects that the additional police and sheriff's deputies are expected to apprehend.

Even if it were to make the ballot, the measure would face long odds, since it needs to garner a two-thirds majority. A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll of L.A. County residents found 63 percent support for the sales tax hike; usually, support for tax measures declines during the campaign.

Baca actually received some good budget news this month.

After learning that state cuts to the county's budget wouldn't be as severe as expected, the Board of Supervisors voted to restore $35 million in proposed cuts to the Sheriff's Department budget. The board also allocated an additional $5 million to improve jail security in the wake of several recent killings inside the county jail.

But even this good news is temporary: without either of the measures Baca is backing, he will have to come back hat in hand to the supervisors next year.

New Financing Authority

The Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles County is putting the finishing touches on a novel approach to financing major infrastructure and other projects.

The LAEDC is proposing a permanent "joint powers authority" to pool the financial resources and leverage of several local cities. The JPA, which will likely be up and running by the end of this year, would then issue bonds for large infrastructure and economic development projects, primarily those costing $30 million or more. It might also provide funds to non-profit research organizations.

Traditionally, JPAs are formed to coordinate the actions of several cities involved in a single infrastructure project, such as the Alameda Corridor. This JPA would function more like an infrastructure bank, agreeing to finance whatever projects its member cities choose to back. The LAEDC would staff the JPA and provide an as-yet-undetermined amount of seed money.

LAEDC president and chief executive Lee Harrington said his organization has been working on this concept for the last two years, spurred in part by the successive rounds of budget cuts hitting local governments.

"We see this as a way to fund major projects for smaller cities that don't have the resources to proceed on their own," Harrington said.

He expects that member cities would rotate in and out of the authority as projects came up that they wanted help financing. In one year, a group of cities on L.A.'s Westside might join to finance upgrades to one or more major commercial streets, for example. The next year. cities in the San Gabriel Valley might join to fund infrastructure improvements for a regional biotech business park.

The cities forming this JPA would also consider funding proposals from non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations for research and other economic development purposes, Harrington said.

And their advantage of this JPA approach would be in the ability of LAEDC staff to mediate and coordinate among several jurisdictions, he said.

The biggest obstacle so far, Harrington said, has been in trying to coax countywide agencies to join. That would give more impetus to funding regional projects. So far, though, none have agreed to come on board.

Last month, the LAEDC presented the JPA proposal to the California Contract Cities Association, which offered to help set up the financing authority. Harrington said that if all goes well, the JPA financing authority could be up and running by the end of the year.

Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached at [phone]. ext. 227. or at [e-mail].