Valley : Push to Create County Set

Assemblywoman Sally Tanner (D-El Monte) said this week that she is exploring a proposal that would allow the San Gabriel Valley to secede from Los Angeles County. Similar proposals have been discussed in the past.

Tanner said it would be a “good idea” to carve out a new San Gabriel Valley County because residents would have more influence on a variety of decisions, especially whether to build waste-to-energy plants, a controversial issue in the area.

Tanner has asked her staff to research the steps necessary to form the state’s 59th county. The last county formed in California was Imperial County, which was carved out of San Diego County in 1907.

If Tanner goes ahead with her campaign, her first hurdle would be to obtain signatures from 25% of the voters in the area of the proposed new county to get the issue on the ballot. Tanner voiced confidence that there is support to place her proposal on the ballot.

However, Tanner cautioned that the proposal then must be approved by more than 50% of Los Angeles County voters, which she called “a very, very difficult challenge.” Still, Tanner said she plans to sound out local officials to determine whether they support the concept.

State law was changed in 1974 to ease the process of creating new counties. Since then, four attempts to break away from Los Angeles County have been placed on the ballot. All four were rejected by voters.

Two were proposals to form Canyon County north of the San Fernando Valley. The other two were bids to establish South Bay County and Peninsula County on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Despite the poor showing of those campaigns, Tanner said, “I’m not going to let this idea just die.”