california update 8 / 28 / 2001 please feel free to address any california or western power questions / comments to g . britt whitman at ex : 54014 or kristin walsh at ex : 39510 . executive summary ? legislative maneuvering towards a bail - out plan mou developments the assembly energy costs and availability committee held hearings yesterday on the socal bailout plan , ab 82 . the chairman of the committee , rod wright , has agreed with hertzberg and davis to move something out of the committee , possibly by mid - week . much of the assembly ' s efforts to move along a comprehensive plan have been encumbered by the introduction of over 50 amendments . additionally , demonstrations by a group of farmers and resort owners opposing the conservation easement provision included in the bill may also slow the process . three central valley democrats ( reyes , flores and canciamilla ) on the assembly committee on energy costs and availability will likely be paying close attention to the demonstrations against the conservation easements , as farmers are significant in their districts . all three legislators face reelection . reyes has already signaled that , even though she voted for the bailout last time , she is disinclining to do so again . these three democrats may impede the progress of the bailout . there are strong indications that the plan will not come to a vote until it has the necessary votes to pass . at this point there still appears to be a lack of consensus on the democratic side . another substantive amendment to the current plan has been a call by socal for " fair market value " of its transmission assets , rather than book value . this value , of course , would have to be estimated and essentially means that even more money would have to go toward the bailout . while committee chairman wright would not oppose this idea , it will likely be hard for many of his colleagues to swallow , particularly on the senate side . once the amendments are disposed of and the bailout plan clears the assembly energy costs and availability committee , it will then go to assembly appropriations . the chair of this committee , carol migden , is friendly with both hertzberg and governor davis , so the plan appears unlikely to receive significant opposition in her committee . it will then go to the assembly floor for a vote . since it is likely some sort of bailout plan will pass the assembly , it likely will fall to the senate to decide ultimately if a socal bailout makes it to the governor or not . therefore , it becomes important to examine what deals might be made between burton and davis in order to get a bailout through the senate . for example , burton wants a change in the workers ' compensation laws to increase payouts to workers . this is a very important issue . on the one hand , both trial lawyers and the unions support burton . on the other hand , he is strongly opposed by the powerful ctma , the republicans and pro - business democrats , including governor davis . in fact , davis has already vetoed this legislation at least once and has promised to do so again . it is conceivable , though unlikely , that a deal could be struck whereby burton would allow a socal bailout to pass in exchange for davis signing workers ' compensation reform . however , if this were to happen , both the bailout and the workers ' comp reform together would be an enormous burden on california businesses at a time when these businesses are not doing well . this is why a deal on this particular topic appears unlikely at this time .