Key State Panel OKs Funds for Secession Study

A key committee of the California Legislature agreed Friday to include funding for a study of San Fernando Valley secession from Los Angeles in the next state budget, a development that could end a long-standing debate over who should shoulder the cost of analyzing the breakup.

The joint Assembly-Senate committee finalizing the budget included $1.8 million in the spending plan to cover roughly 80% of the costs of studying the economic consequences of secession--a legally required step before voters can consider a municipal divorce.

Though the committee’s budget recommendations still have to be approved by the full Senate and Assembly, and ultimately Gov. Gray Davis, the support from representatives of both houses signals a dimming of opposition to the secession proposal, spearheaded by Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks).

“I remain opposed to the breakup of the San Fernando Valley from the city of Los Angeles,” Villaraigosa said in a statement. “I don’t believe it’s practical, and I believe that it will divide people instead of bringing them closer together.

“However, 132,000 San Fernando Valley residents who signed petitions in support of secession indicate strongly to us in Sacramento that this issue must be studied,” he added. “This state funding would be used for a review that will provide everyone with a more detailed analysis on the impact of secession.”

Villaraigosa and Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) appointed the committee’s six members. Burton, along with Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), has previously expressed opposition to state funding for the secession study, and was considered the biggest obstacle to the proposal.

“It’s a huge hurdle we have gotten over. This is now recommended by both houses of the Legislature,” Hertzberg said. “Unless there is some last-minute deal, the prospects of this study taking place are now really good.

“There’s other things that did not make it, and that was because Burton opposed them,” Hertzberg said. “The fact that it’s still in there speaks volumes.”

Burton’s office did not respond to a request for comment Friday, but a spokesperson did not dispute Hertzberg’s assertion.

*

Secession advocates hailed the recommendation as a major breakthrough, but said they would refrain from celebrating until the budget clears the Legislature and the governor’s desk.

“I think it will still be controversial,” said former Assemblyman Richard Katz, now a leader of Valley VOTE, the main group pushing secession. “There is a ways to go on this process, and people could still submit bills to omit the money. But the speaker made this a priority, and that’s what made it happen.”

Katz said a similar secession campaign in San Pedro and Wilmington apparently helped tip the scales in the Legislature after leaders of that breakup effort began lobbying their representatives. So did the fact that several members of the joint committee hailed from the San Diego and San Jose areas, where some activists are also pondering secession, Hertzberg said.

“The other thing that helped us, frankly, is that the people who oppose this probably decided that all it does is give more fuel to [secession] if elected leaders stonewall the people on this issue,” Katz said. “They can always argue against secession once the study is completed.”

Valley VOTE triggered the study earlier this year after collecting signatures from one-fourth of registered Valley voters--an unprecedented display of dissatisfaction with city government. However, the source of money to conduct the study is not clearly defined under state law and has been a subject of dispute.

Secessionists have argued that they should not be forced to shoulder the cost because such an expensive requirement would represent an unconstitutional barrier to their right to seek a vote on secession. City and county leaders have argued that they should also not be forced to pay for the brunt of the study because it was mandated by state legislation two years ago.

*

Under the budget recommendation, the state would provide $1.8 million for the Local Agency Formation Commission, the panel overseeing the secession process, to conduct the study. It is expected to cost $2.3 million, so secession proponents, the city and county would still have to decide how to split the remainder of the cost. But the move by state leaders should make the rest of the funding fall quickly into place, secession advocates said.