Bergeson Cites Lack of Support : Bill to Take County Out of SCAG Pulled

Lacking adequate support for a bill to give Orange County an independent voice in regional planning, state Sen. Marian Bergeson on Tuesday withdrew the measure and scheduled it for further study in the fall.

Bergeson, a Newport Beach Republican, said she hopes to be able to close the gap between the bill’s supporters and opponents by holding an in-depth hearing in Orange County on the issue at the end of the 1988 legislative session.

The bill would allow Orange County to withdraw from the six-county Southern California Assn. of Governments, known as SCAG, and instead look to the Orange County Transportation Commission for regional planning within the county.

Supporters said the bill was needed to improve planning for Orange County’s future, especially for roads. County officials say they don’t believe Orange County gets the attention it needs from an influential agency dominated by Los Angeles County interests.

But the measure’s opponents argued that removing Orange County from SCAG would cripple that agency’s ability to coordinate planning for the entire Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Bergeson said she might have had the votes to move the bill through the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday but backed off in the face of what she termed “extremely committed” opposition.

“My objective is to get a good bill,” Bergeson said. “Whether or not I had the votes, I didn’t want to pass the bill out unless there was full support from the county . . . and SCAG. That obviously doesn’t exist.”

The measure was opposed by SCAG and the Orange County cities of Brea, Buena Park, Cypress, Laguna Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Stanton and Yorba Linda. The 18 cities that supported the measure represent 86% of the county’s population, according to a Bergeson aide.

Bergeson said she hoped the measure could be improved by intense scrutiny at a special hearing later this year.

“That will provide a forum in Orange County where we can dedicate the entire agenda to discussing regional planning for Orange County, and SCAG will be part of that discussion,” she said.

Dennis Carpenter, lobbyist for both the county and the Orange County Transportation Commission, which sponsored the bill, predicted that the dissatisfaction with SCAG will continue to fester unless some change is enacted.

“It’s a long-range issue that won’t go away,” Carpenter said. “It will be back with more and more support.”