At all.

Church-state issues derail state funding to help repair/restore California missions:

"The problem essentially was that it would have authorized state taxpayer funds for churches with ongoing services, violating the church-state ethic that has been practiced in the U.S. for centuries," said Jim Evans, a spokesman for state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana), the judiciary committee chairman.

A federal program called Save America’s Treasures has financed repairs at landmark houses of worship, including Boston’s Old North Church, where Paul Revere hung his famous lanterns. But religious observances at those facilities are minimal, Evans said. Old North Church has two Episcopal services every Sunday, while many of California’s 21 missions offer services every day, he said.

Under Maldonado’s proposal, state funds would have been used only for preservation work at the missions and other religious facilities recognized as historic landmarks.

"This is not a church-and-state issue," he said in a news release. "Our missions signify the early vision, foresight and culture Californians are known for, and we’re letting them crumble."

Maldonado will reintroduce his proposal in January, hoping that new legislators will be more sympathetic to it, said his spokesman, Chris Mowrer.

If he does, the bill will probably be opposed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, whose director, Rev. Barry Lynn, has called the proposal "a genuinely terrible idea."

"The taxpayers of California should not be forced to subsidize active, worshiping congregations by repairing their buildings or other structures used for religious purposes," he said in a May interview.