Secession Backers Get 3-Month Extension

With only one dissenting vote, the California Legislature on Monday granted San Fernando Valley activists three more months to gather signatures on petitions that could lead to a vote on Valley secession from Los Angeles.

If Gov. Pete Wilson signs the measure--and his staff has said he favors it--the extra time virtually assures that Valley independence will undergo serious consideration for the first time since the vast area was annexed to Los Angeles in 1915.

Leaders of Valley VOTE, the group of Valley activists leading the petition campaign, said the three-month reprieve would provide the time needed to collect the 135,000 signatures required to prompt a state-sanctioned secession study, the first step leading to a possible ballot initiative on the question.

The extra time also bails out Valley VOTE’s struggling petition drive, which had collected 116,900 signatures as of last week. The current petition deadline is Thursday, but that will be bumped to around Thanksgiving, if Wilson acquiesces to the measure passed Monday.

“If the governor signs it, this almost guarantees we’ll be able to collect the signatures for the study,” said Valley VOTE President Jeff Brain. “This will keep pressure on for cleaning up Los Angeles government, even if the Valley never goes forward with secession.”

The state Assembly approved the three-month extension Monday without debate by a 67-1 vote. Assemblyman Roderick Wright (D-Los Angeles) cast the dissenting vote.

“I am adamantly against the Valley seceding from L.A.,” said Wright, who represents South-Central Los Angeles.

The time extension passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday.

“The city has been placed on notice that it must become more attentive to the needs and wishes of the San Fernando Valley, or the San Fernando Valley will satisfy its own needs as a separate city,” said state Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge), co-sponsor of a 1997 bill making the petition drive possible.

The Assembly vote caps the bill’s rocket-ride through the Legislature. Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), introduced the measure two weeks ago as an emergency bill. The bill required a two-thirds vote in the Assembly and Senate, and had to be rushed through before state lawmakers adjourn next Monday.

The bill clarifies a dispute over whether Valley VOTE had 90 or 180 days to complete its petition drive.

If the drive is successful, the Local Agency Formation Commission must study the feasibility of creating an independent Valley city. LAFCO then would have the option of putting the issues on the ballot for a citywide vote as early as 2000.

Hertzberg said the measure received its biggest boost when it got the backing of Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), a staunch opponent to Valley secession.

Although he is opposed to the creation of an independent Valley city, Polanco said he voted for the extension to make amends to Valley VOTE. The group’s signature-gatherers should not have been barred from an air show at the city-owned Van Nuys Airport in July, he said, so it was fair to give them more time to finish their work.