Secession Bill Hits a Potential Roadblock

A bill that would ease the San Fernando Valley’s attempts to secede from the city of Los Angeles hit an unexpected snag Tuesday when it was sent to an Assembly policy committee in a last-ditch attempt by opponents to squelch the measure.

“We have a problem with the bill,” said Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), one of its co-authors, on Tuesday.

The developments arose a day after the measure that would eliminate the veto power of city councils over secession applications passed the state Senate 23 to 5 on Monday.

Believing they had surmounted their last potential legislative obstacle, Hertzberg and co-author Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge) had predicted smooth sailing for the bill.

They had said it would clear the Legislature after winning final approval of the Assembly on Tuesday or today.

But that was before the chairman of the Assembly Local Government Committee, Assemblyman Mike Sweeney (D-Hayward), asked that the measure be sent to his committee for a policy hearing.

The request was granted because the committee had not considered the policy implications of having the new law apply throughout California.

The original bill applied only to Los Angeles. In addition to eliminating the City Council veto, the bill called for a majority vote of the entire city, plus a majority vote of the area seeking to secede before a city could be split up.

It does not initiate secession.

The amendment to apply the law to the entire state was added by the Senate--actually by an opponent of the bill, Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), in June. He hoped statewide application would make legislators who were willing to split up Los Angeles consider the impact of the change in the law on their own cities.

Sweeney said the amendment is a problem for him and others.

“There are a lot of concerns at the local level,” Sweeney said. “I think it was unfortunate [the bill] was changed to apply statewide. . . . It might not have passed out of the committee [the first time] if it applied statewide.”

Opponents of the measure, including the League of California Cities and the cities of San Jose and San Diego, have contacted Sweeney to argue against the measure.

Despite the setback, and after lobbying other members of the Local Government Committee, McClintock and Hertzberg remained optimistic that the measure will pass out of the committee, probably today.

That leaves sufficient time for the bill to be voted on by the Assembly by the end of the session Friday.

“I’m not worried,” McClintock said.

But Assembly Majority Leader Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles), who opposes secession but backs the bill, said now that the bill affects the entire state, it will make it a more difficult sell.

“It will be tough,” Villaraigosa said.

When only Los Angeles was at issue, the bill passed the Assembly overwhelmingly earlier this year.

The Local Government Committee has 15 members, including six Republicans and nine Democrats, including Hertzberg.

Assemblyman Steve Baldwin (R-El Cajon), the committee’s vice chair, said in an interview that he supported the amended bill and would urge the five other GOP legislators on the committee to join him.

One of the five Republicans, Assemblyman George Runner (R-Lancaster), confirmed Tuesday that his support for the measure is unchanged.

Hertzberg and fellow Democratic Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced) are the other two votes for the bill.

“I’m with Mr. Hertzberg,” Cardoza said Tuesday.

Democratic Assemblymen Sweeney, Mike Honda of San Jose and Kevin Murray of Los Angeles are expected to vote against the bill.

“The whole idea of secession is not something we should make easier,” Murray said. “It’s a bad, stupid, political idea.”

If the committee rejects the Senate amendments, the bill doesn’t die. It would be sent to a conference committee consisting of members from both houses to work out a compromise.

If it is approved in the Assembly, the legislation would then move to the governor’s desk.

Gov. Pete Wilson has not taken a position, but through a spokesman he has expressed reservations about applying the change in the law throughout the state.

Supporters of the measure from the San Fernando Valley, meanwhile, say they are contacting Wilson to persuade him to sign the legislation.