Roberti Proposes State Action to Regulate Airlines

SACRAMENTO —  The powerful Democratic leader of the state Senate on Monday proposed that the state plunge into the business of regulating airlines as a potential way of reducing fares and improving passenger safety.

Citing the federal government’s massive deregulation of the savings and loan and airline industries under the Reagan Administration, Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti of Los Angeles said he believes that “in some areas, we have deregulated to the detriment of consumers.”

Specifically, Roberti, who commutes at least twice a week between Los Angeles and Sacramento, endorsed trying to make air fares more competitive by flexing the state’s unused legal muscle to open up local airports to more carriers.

Asked if this meant the state might take over management of airports from local officials, Roberti replied, “In some cases, that’s a possibility, yes.”

Regulation of airlines is almost totally a federal task, especially on matters of safety and flight routes. Roberti conceded that there may be little the state can do to improve airline safety, but “to the extent we have (the authority), yes, I would like to get involved.” He did not elaborate on his safety concerns.

Over the last 10 years, air fares in California have soared an average 40% above inflation, the state Public Utilities Commission reported recently, while major California-based commuter airlines have all but vanished.

At a press conference where he outlined a 2 1/2-page list of Senate Democratic “Goals for 1990,” Roberti put special emphasis on continuing the “cooperative spirit” Democrats have forged with Republican Gov. George Deukmejian.

In sketching the Democratic goals, Roberti said major attention would be given to providing health insurance coverage to millions of low-income Californians and low-cost automobile insurance to uninsured drivers--two big issues that eluded a resolution last year.

Likewise, he indicated that Democratic legislation would be introduced to beef up regulatory activities of state banks and savings and loan departments by combining the two agencies and securing more examiners.

Managing California’s explosive growth, he said, would be a top priority, including passage of a bill that would encourage local governments to plan carefully for population growth and in exchange receive priority in state grants and loans.

On the airline issue, Roberti appeared to be calling for the charting of new territory by the state. Virtually no state tax dollars go to local airports, so the state has no purse-string control over them. For the state to become an airline regulator, legislation would be required to supersede the power of local authorities to grant airliners access to their facilities.

Under existing law, the state’s authority over local airports is confined basically to issues of land use and noise pollution, said a Senate consultant.

Roberti said he would propose legislation that would enable the state, rather than local authorities, to control “apportionment of gates” at airports and expand the number of airlines using passenger terminals.

Admitting that as an airline passenger he has a personal interest in lower fares, Roberti said, “Let’s open (airports) to more airlines . . . let them come in. That probably would reduce costs a bit.”