Lawmakers Turn to Clinton Seeking Cash : Lobbying: As efforts in Sacramento pan out, supervisors and legislators urge White House to restore health care funds.

With an intense lobbying effort still under way in Sacramento, the County Board of Supervisors on Thursday turned its attention to the White House to help solve the county’s unprecedented budget crisis.

By late afternoon, the Sacramento lobbying effort had paid a small dividend. State Sen. Hilda Solis (D-El Monte) said she would introduce a measure that would authorize the supervisors to increase sales taxes by a 1/2-cent, raising up to $400 million a year to help close the county’s $1.2-billion deficit.

The bill needs to pass both houses of the Legislature and gain the approval of four of five supervisors before it could be put into effect, and many state lawmakers are averse to raising taxes.

Because of this, supervisors said they are pinning their hopes on President Clinton to help balance the budget. Without his help, several said Thursday, they will be forced to make catastrophic cuts in services and lay off thousands of employees, even if aid from Sacramento comes through.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich said an administrative decision by Clinton resulted in the loss of at least $650 million in health care funds last year. He and several other supervisors said they want to get back that money.

“It is vital,” Antonovich said. “Failure of Washington to honor its commitment [to health care] will result in sizable downsizing of health services in L.A. County.”

As a result, at least two supervisors--board Chairwoman Gloria Molina and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky--plan to fly to Washington next week for a series of meetings with lawmakers aimed at pressuring Clinton to restore the funds.

The supervisors spent much of this week in Sacramento making similar appeals, and several said they were buoyed by promises of aid during the ongoing state budget deliberations. They hope arm-twisting in Washington will prompt similar promises of help by the local delegation.

“There’s not enough of a financial solution in Sacramento to alleviate the need to make deep and hurtful cuts,” Yaroslavsky said. “Washington is critical in helping us manage this crisis.

“We are hopeful that the Administration and our congressional delegation will be helpful,” he said.

As part of the general lobbying effort, members of the California congressional delegation are scheduled to meet next week at the White House with members of Clinton’s staff, including Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, a former California congressman.

State lawmakers also are turning toward Washington as a way of trying to help beleaguered Los Angeles County.

In a letter, 21 state lawmakers issued an “urgent plea” to President Clinton on Thursday, asking for his intervention in the county budget crisis.

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Specifically, the lawmakers asked the President to help the county obtain $226 million of the health care funds denied in the past several years and to get back other federal health care money that they say is critical in keeping the county health care network up and working.

“We know of your deep concern for health care and the crisis of Los Angeles,” state Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-San Leandro) and Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) said in the letter. “We look forward to working with you for both an immediate as well as a long-term solution.”

The county also has a law firm on retainer in Washington to help with its lobbying efforts, and many top county officials--including Health Services Director Robert C. Gates and Children and Family Services Director Peter Digre--have traveled to Washington in recent weeks to lobby for more federal aid.

“We can’t forget that [federal officials] also are making decisions and policy changes that will impact our budget,” said Alma Martinez, Molina’s chief of staff.

Also Thursday, the supervisors took a mostly symbolic step of calling on department heads to join them in forgoing cost-of-living raises or to give the raises to charity.

But even if they all agree, such a move would save the county only $40,000.

Joan Kagan, agency coordinator at the Volunteer Center of the San Fernando Valley, told the supervisors that cutting county departments by 20% would end up endangering the nonprofit program.

The Panorama City-based center, which received about $50,000 from the county last year, works with public and nonprofit agencies in assigning juvenile and adult offenders to community service tasks such as cleaning up graffiti.

“Of all the county programs, perhaps the most foolhardy is to cut a referral agency,” Kagan said. “Jail is overcrowded . . . sending offenders off without sanctions doesn’t make sense. This allows them to make restitution to the community.”

The agency’s executive director, Jim Leahy Jr., said that by offering community service programs, the center saved the county and state $36 million in potential jail costs, and its volunteers provided $15 million worth of services at a fraction of the cost.

“It costs them about 1.2 cents for every $1 we provide,” Leahy said. “They’re getting a big bang for the dollar.”

Seventeen-year-old Noemi Medina, who dropped out of high school but is attending Valley College, said the proposed cuts threaten to eliminate the center’s youth mentor program.

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Meanwhile, protests continued at at least seven Department of Public Social Services offices.

About 900 workers administering general welfare, Aid to Families With Dependent Children, Medi-Cal and food stamp money either called in sick or walked off the job during the day to protest about 1,800 proposed layoffs in the department that could go into effect by early August.

“The protests have been very disruptive,” said spokeswoman Carol Matsui, “but we have not had to close any offices.”

The job actions occurred at welfare offices in Panorama City, Lancaster, West Los Angeles, Canoga Park, East Los Angeles and Downtown, Matsui said.