McClintock Bill Could Benefit Valley VOTE

Assemblyman Tom McClintock introduced a bill Friday to bar governments statewide from charging citizens any fees in connection to petition drives--legislation that could spare San Fernando Valley secession advocates the multimillion-dollar costs of studying municipal divorce.

Based on incidents throughout California where citizens groups have been burdened by costly government fees stemming from signature drives, McClintock (R-Northridge) said, the time has come for the Legislature to overturn what he considers an unconstitutional practice.

“We are supposed to have a right to petition the government in this country,” McClintock said. “If we have to pay for that right, it is no longer a right, it’s a privilege.”

The bill, titled the People’s Right to Petition Their Government Act, applies not only to initiatives, referendums and recalls, but to secession drives, which are overseen by state-created panels called Local Agency Formation commissions.

It specifically prohibits LAFCOs from requiring payment of any fees or seeking reimbursement from the public for a petition drive, and also prevents courts from forcing groups involved in such drives to pay opponents’ legal fees after litigation.

Leaders of the secession group Valley VOTE, which has complained that the LAFCO fees were too steep for citizens to bear, hailed McClintock’s bill.

“The people have a right to petition to change their government, and fees, whether to verify signatures or to study [secession], infringe on that right,” said Valley VOTE President Jeff Brain. “We applaud Mr. McClintock for stepping forward.”

Valley VOTE chafed, and threatened lawsuits earlier this year when the county’s LAFCO panel said it had to pay up to $270,000 to check the 202,000 signatures it collected to launch a secession study.

A divided Board of Supervisors later agreed to assume most of the tab, and the group wound up paying less than $10,000. But Valley VOTE is still expected to be asked to pay for some of the costs of the study itself, which could run as high as $8 million, according to a county report.

The study must take place before secession can be placed on the ballot, which is not likely before 2002. It requires a vote of the entire city, not just the Valley, to pass.