Local Laws ’99

Measures to curb gun sales were prominent among laws approved locally in 1999. Overall, city councils in Los Angeles County and the Board of Supervisors itself passed thousands of laws on subjects ranging from parking placards to killer bees. A sampling of the laws and other government actions:

Los Angeles County

Domestic partners--Easing the way for more corporations to liberalize their benefit policies, Los Angeles County created a formal registry for domestic partners, providing a centralized list for businesses that extend benefits to unmarried couples but have concerns about who may qualify.

Living wage--Hoping to reduce poverty among the county’s working families, the Board of Supervisors adopted a living wage ordinance for full-time employees who work for county government or for a company with which it contracts, setting the wage at $8.32 an hour with health insurance or $9.46 without.

Loitering--Aimed at disrupting gang activity, a new ordinance makes it a misdemeanor for gang members to loiter with the intent to “publicize a street gang’s dominance” over public areas, as well as intimidate nonmembers from entering. It criminalizes loitering with the intent to conceal commerce in illegal drugs or other unlawful activity. It also makes gang members’ parents or guardians guilty of misdemeanors for allowing their children to violate the anti-loitering law.

Tattooing--The county now restricts body piercing and tattoo parlors in unincorporated areas to industrial zones, requiring a conditional use permit. A business license is required, and all parlors are subject to regular health inspections.

Gun sales--Soon after a white supremacist fired a semiautomatic weapon in an attack at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, wounding five, and later allegedly shot a postal worker to death, supervisors banned the sale of guns and ammunition on all Los Angeles County property. The ban applies to buildings, beaches, parks and the fairgrounds in Pomona, home to the nation’s largest gun show. Although a federal judge enjoined the county from applying the law immediately, it had its desired effect. The gun show has moved to Las Vegas.

Junk guns--Continuing efforts to crack down on guns in the county, the supervisors banned the sale of Saturday night specials after the California Supreme Court last year upheld West Hollywood’s ban. Although a similar concept was approved two years ago, the law did not go into effect because county officials awaited the outcome of the court battle.

Los Angeles

Badges--Citing reports of city commissioners allegedly flashing their gold shields to get special favors, the city removed the power of dozens of commissioners to buy gold metal badges in leather cases that look remarkably like shields carried by police officers. The city clerk will issue gold shields only to those who get approval from the City Council.

Banners--In response to concern about a proliferation of street banners--with more than 6,200 on city light poles--the ordinance prohibits the Dodgers, the ABC television network and other businesses from hanging promotional banners. Nonprofit groups are allowed to continue hanging banners for free, but logos of corporate sponsors are limited to 20% of the space available for banners.

DWP--In an effort to conserve water, residents who are selling their homes or multifamily units must replace any old-fashioned, high-volume-flow commodes with water-efficient, “ultra-low-flow” models before escrow closes. Owners can get free toilets from the DWP or receive rebates of $100 per toilet in a single-family home and $75 for multifamily units. Sellers must obtain a certificate of compliance from the DWP. If sellers do not comply with the law before escrow closes, the transaction is considered an illegal sale and surcharges will be added to water bills.

Gun control--The city prohibited the sale or purchase of more than one handgun per month to anyone. The ordinance is aimed at “straw purchasers,” people who buy large numbers of firearms and then sell them to criminals, minors and others not legally allowed to own a gun.

Neighborhood councils--In an effort to bridge the gap between citizens and local government and implement the first step in sweeping charter reforms, the new Department of Neighborhood Empowerment will develop a plan for a system of advisory neighborhood councils in all parts of the city, which will let the mayor and council know how their communities feel about issues.

Tax reform--Eager to adopt a plan that simplifies the antiquated tax structure, send a message that the city is friendly to businesses and keep the issue off the ballot, the City Council cut taxes on two-thirds of city businesses; the remaining third can either choose to continue paying their current tax rates or move to the new tax structure and voluntarily pay a tax increase. The plan cuts tax rate categories from 64 to eight.

Smoking--Designed to enhance the state ban on smoking, business owners are required to post “no smoking” signs--with a toll-free complaint number. The city attorney’s office will take the calls from the complaint number and issue written warnings to violators. If a second complaint for the same establishment is received, fire inspectors will pay a visit within three days. Owners are subject to a first-time fine of $100. Second- and third-time violators will pay $200 to $500. After a third violation, Cal/OSHA will be notified and may issue a fine of up to $7,000. Patrons who fail to comply with the ban will pay $81 for the first violation, $162 for the second and $324 for a third.

Agoura Hills

Open space--Voters passed an ordinance that will require two-thirds voter approval before an area designated as open space can be given a new classification.

Residential care--Residential care facilities for the elderly may now be operated in commercial areas.

Alhambra

Salary--After 55 years without a pay hike, City Council members were given the green light to increase their pay from $50 to $600 per month, and from $75 to $650 per month for the mayor. In addition, council members receive $30 for each redevelopment agency meeting they attend, a $10,000 life insurance policy and an optional $512 per month in health insurance coverage. They are also reimbursed for meals, travel expenses, mileage and cellular phone use when conducting city business.

Arcadia

Zoning--Foiling a long battle with residents and after being threatened with a lawsuit, officials were forced to allow a “nude juice bar,” an 18-and-over strip club that does not serve alcohol, to open in Chicago Park, an industrial area detached from the rest of the city. The ordinance reduces the buffer zone between adult businesses and homes to 700 feet from 750 feet and prohibits lap dancing and tipping and requires parking lot security.

Mansions--Aimed at preventing so-called “mansionization,” the building of houses that dwarf their neighbors, the City Council lowered the permissible height of homes by reducing from 40 to 30 degrees the maximum angle allowed from the roof line to the front property line. Developers must now build lower or set the homes farther back from the street.

Azusa

Animals--To help offset the cost of enforcing animal regulations, and weary of owners who fail to license their pets, the San Gabriel Valley Humane Society put a bite in its dog-license law by instituting hefty fines and even placing liens on homes. Pet owners who fail to buy identification tags after a warning face fines that begin at $50 for those who don’t comply within 10 days and escalate to $250 after 20 days and $500 after 30 days. Inspectors started going door-to-door in Azusa, Monrovia, Monterey Park and San Gabriel--all members of the San Gabriel Valley Animal Joint Powers Authority--last November.

Beverly Hills

Illegal placards--Cracking down on the illegal use of handicapped parking placards, parking enforcement officers were authorized to confiscate illegal placards and issue fines of $500. Officials said placards are often abused by relatives of legitimate placard owners, or by people who live with them.

Calabasas

Affordable housing fees--To help people who work in the city afford to live there, the city instituted developer fees that will go toward a housing trust fund to help first-time home buyers afford down payments. For office space, the fee is $1.50 per square foot; for retail development, it’s 86 cents per square foot.

Duarte

Weapons--After residents expressed concerns about hunters walking near homes, officials amended a law prohibiting the use of rifles, shotguns and revolvers on public property to include bows and arrows, crossbows, compound bows, BB guns, pellet guns, air rifles, spring rifles, spring pistols and blowguns. Hunters previously had to stay at least 150 yards away from public areas, but now must stay in the Angeles National Forest, 1,200 yards north of Duarte.

Gardena

Drugs--Taking the war on methamphetamines to local pharmacies, Gardena outlawed large purchases of cold and allergy medications containing pseudoephedrine and its sister compound, ephedrine. Targeting those who buy armfuls of cold medicines and use them to make methamphetamine, the law prohibits customers from purchasing more than three packages or more than 100 capsules of the medicines at a time.

Glendale

Ethics--A newly approved code of ethics for elected and appointed officials states that they must be independent, impartial and responsible to the people, and that public office not be used for personal gain.

Huntington Park

Pay raise--Exploiting a loophole in state law, part-time City Council members gave themselves a 160% raise, from $11,520 per year to $30,000. Skirting the restriction, they appointed themselves to a newly created Community Development Commission, replacing the redevelopment agency. Members receive $1,600 per month for the part-time job in addition to the current council salary of $900 per month.

Lancaster

Outdoor ads--Citing the protection of children and promotion of general welfare as the purpose, a trio of ordinances were passed prohibiting outdoor, off-premise advertising for tobacco products, alcoholic beverages and adult phone message services within 200 feet of a residential zone or within 1,000 feet of any school, park, youth center, child care center or church. The ban does not apply to signs that identify business premises or advertising inside buildings or on commercial vehicles.

Long Beach

“Killer bees”--After beekeeper Virgil Foster was stung to death in August in his own backyard by Africanized honeybees, the City Council passed a law requiring beekeepers to register with the health department. The law also allows the health department to enter residents’ backyards to exterminate suspected Africanized honeybees, also known as “killer bees.”

Palmdale

Parking enforcement--The city manager was given authority to appoint trained community volunteers to enforce disabled parking violations.

Consumer prices--If a state of emergency is declared in the city of Palmdale by the federal, state or local government, people there are prohibited from selling any consumer good or service for more than 10% above its market price on the day before the emergency was declared.

Monrovia

Truancy--Spurred by a 1997 lawsuit and conflicts with state law that allow students to be out of school for “justifiable personal reasons,” the City Council retooled its landmark 1994 truancy law to exempt minors if they have a legal reason to be out in public between 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Pasadena

Cruising--Cruisers grumbled as city officials put the brakes on the tradition of driving just to see and be seen. Cracking down on gridlock after more than 800 cars an hour on Friday and Saturday nights began passing through Old Town Pasadena, officials imposed a $271 fine for any driver caught passing a designated spot more than three times in a four-hour period. To keep track, police type the license plate numbers into hand-held computers.

Rowland Heights

Handicap parking--Motorists who park illegally in handicapped spaces will face hefty $330 fines as sheriff’s volunteers begin devoting four hours of their six-hour shift to parking violators.

San Marino

Latchkey law--Some libraries have been swamped by a wave of latchkey children, and in some cases there aren’t enough chairs for them. In San Marino, library staff members call police when a child under 13 is left waiting more than 15 minutes after closing. First-time violators of the new ordinance will receive a warning, but after the second time, parents will be sent a bill for the police officers’ time.

Santa Clarita

Residential parking--Santa Clarita residents are no longer allowed to park their cars in their own frontyards, with the exception of driveways. Residents may not keep or maintain vehicles anywhere on their property that is not screened from a public or private street by fencing, walls or vegetation. The prohibition does not apply to residential lots larger than a quarter-acre or in special districts of Placerita and Sand Canyon.

San Fernando

Alcohol and tobacco advertising--Modeled after the Los Angeles law, San Fernando passed an ordinance prohibiting billboards advertising alcohol and tobacco within 1,000 feet of any school, child care center, youth center or park. Also prohibited are storefront signs advertising alcohol or tobacco that are visible more than three feet from an establishment.

Santa Monica

Musical chairs--After merchants along this city’s famed Third Street Promenade complained that crowds of vendors and irksome street performers were scaring away customers, an emergency ordinance was passed requiring the performers to stand 40 feet apart and move to a new spot every 20 minutes. The city said the new law, which also applies to the Santa Monica Pier, will prevent performers from battling over prized turf.

South Pasadena

Restaurants--Changing the way it rates the city’s 77 restaurants, the city revoked the law passed last year requiring restaurants to post letter grades given by county health inspectors. Many restaurant owners had complained that consistent B grades were an embarrassment and patrons might drift to nearby cities that have no such rules. Inspections will continue, with results available on the Internet or at county health offices. The restaurants will not have to provide scores to patrons, however.

Westlake Village

Signage--Residents may now use traditional multicolored real estate signs in their frontyards and nonprofit organizations may hang temporary signs during events.

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Compiled by Times staff writers Cecilia Rasmussen, Irene Garcia, Caitlin Liu, Roberto J. Manzano and Monte Morin.