Fresno Bee: Arambula's Attempt To Overhaul Controversial Enterprise Zones Not As Successful As He Wanted

The Fresno Bee has an article about AB 1550 that includes plenty of interesting insights. Not the least is the fact that Assemblyman Arambula intends to keep working on the issue next year:

'I think the bill has a lot less than I had initially hoped for, but it was what was possible this year,' said Arambula, a former Fresno County supervisor who has taken a keen interest in economic development issues.

Momentum was lost in early May, he said, when he was forced out as leader of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy.

Speaker Fabian Nunez stripped Arambula of the chairmanship when he refused to vote for the $37 billion public works bond package. Arambula unsuccessfully held out for money for a Fresno-area dam, an idea rejected by most of his fellow Democrats.

The speaker and Arambula later patched things up, and Arambula regained the post in late May. But by then, Arambula said, key deadlines had passed and it was tougher to push the reform through.

'It could not have come at a worse time in terms of the the legislative process,' he said of his demotion.

'I wish we had been able to go farther this year, but I'm learning that half a loaf is better than nothing,' added the first-term Assembly member, who intends to revisit the issue next year.