County May Help Pay to Check Valley Secession Petitions

Arguing that constitutional rights were at stake, a sharply divided Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to help San Fernando Valley secession activists foot the bill--if necessary--for checking signatures gathered on petitions to advance the breakup movement.

As a result of the agreement--which Supervisors Gloria Molina and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke strongly opposed--activists will be required to pay no more than $10,000 to check the 205,000 signatures submitted for a secession study.

Under state law, if the petitions are found to contain 132,000 valid signatures, the Local Agency Formation Commission must perform a secession study. The commission is a state entity but is funded by the city and county of Los Angeles.

If secession is found to be economically viable for the Valley, the issue would probably be on the ballot in 2002. To pass, the effort would need approval by majorities of voters in the Valley and Los Angeles as a whole.

With support from the American Civil Liberties Union and several constitutional scholars, Valley VOTE--the group pushing for secession--told supervisors that the fee of $1.36 per signature amounted to an unconstitutional poll tax. Valley VOTE lawyers threatened to sue over the issue.

Burke argued that the funding agreement had far-reaching consequences for counties throughout the state--and should have been left to the courts. She complained that the board’s decision opened the door for others to seek similar financial assistance--including groups in Eagle Rock, San Pedro and Westchester now pursuing secession.

“What we are doing is establishing a precedent that will go on for years and years and affect incorporations and school district [breakups],” Burke said.

Under the agreement, secession activists will pay for a random sampling of 3% of the signatures, all that the county usually requires. However, if county election officials discover many invalid signatures and the sample is not definitive enough, the county would pay to count all the signatures--which could cost as much as $270,000.

At the heart of the debate was whether the fee charged by the commission--or any fee at all--was unconstitutional. Election officials do not charge petitioners in initiative drives, making the commission’s fees in secession and incorporation cases unusual.