WASHINGTON -- California lawmakers and lobbyists must find new ways to steer federal transportation dollars to the state.

Earmarks are out in the massive House and Senate transportation bills moving this week. Once famed for their pork, the transportation bills are now shorn of locally targeted funding. That means it's time to get creative.

"California is a donor state. We give more in taxes than we get back, and earmarks have been one way we try to compensate," Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, said Monday, "so we will have to work this legislation."

Today, the House unveils its latest transportation package. Separately, several Senate committees will mark up a different version this week.

The bills expose sharp divisions. The House wants a five-year bill. The Senate proposes two years. Funding totals and funding sources differ. The House bill funds projects, in part, by expanding domestic energy production. The Senate bill does not.

Lawmakers seeking to resolve the many differences almost certainly will need another extension -- their eighth -- before the current bill expires March 31.

"It's a daunting task," acknowledged Len Simon, a lobbyist who represents the cities of Fresno and Rancho Cordova, but "if people put their minds to it, it can happen."

The House and Senate do agree on omitting the earmarks that have made the last several transportation bills both popular and, ultimately, controversial.

Instead, California lobbyists and lawmakers can try to bulk up programs where the state might fare well either through grant competition or through formula-driven funding. The bills also can emphasize general programs important in the state.

"I think California is poised to get its fair share, or more than its fair share," Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Atwater, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said Monday. "I think we're in better shape than years past."

Denham inserted in the House bill a provision easing transportation requirements governing California cattle ranchers. More broadly, he predicted the emphasis on block grants will "take most of the politics out of the process," as the California Transportation Commission will set statewide priorities.

The 599-page Senate bill includes money for air quality and freight rail programs that, while not mentioning California specifically, are likely to pump money into the state. Thirty-eight of the state's 58 counties, including much of the Central Valley, are designated as "non attainment" for air quality standards. This potentially qualifies them for air-quality project funding under the Senate bill.

Both bills also would boost the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act credit program, which treats California well. Combined, the Senate and House bills put $1 billion a year toward the program, up from $122 million.

All told, the Senate bill approved by Sen. Barbara Boxer's committee last November authorizes about $85 billion over two years. California would likely claim an estimated 10% of the total, which is about par with current funding levels.

The earmark absence is markedly different from the last transportation bill, whose 6,371 earmarks included hundreds for California projects.

All told, the 2005 bill itemized nearly $2.5 billion for California projects identified as "high priority," according to the California Department of Transportation. California also secured an additional $1.3 billion in itemized "transit" earmarks, such as buses for Yosemite National Park.