Speaker to Seek State Funds for Secession Study

Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa will lead a push to obtain state funding for a study of San Fernando Valley secession from Los Angeles, sources told The Times on Thursday.

A potential mayoral candidate in 2001, Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) met with Valley secessionists last week and is due to announce today at a Van Nuys news conference that he wants the state to pick up most of the tab for the study.

A complex and politically charged analysis of the consequences of deconstructing Los Angeles, the study must be conducted before a citywide vote on the breakup could take place. It is expected to cost several million dollars. If it finds that secession can take place without hurting the rest of Los Angeles economically, the issue could go before voters as early as 2002. Valley secession would require a majority vote of the Valley, as well as the city as a whole.

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Richard Close of Valley VOTE, the group spearheading the secession campaign, said he was pleased that Villaraigosa had decided to take a larger role on the issue, which has been a source of controversy for months.

Valley VOTE has repeatedly maintained that it should not be asked to pay for such an expensive study because that would represent an unconstitutional hurdle to the ballot. The group, along with Mayor Richard Riordan, has proposed paying for a portion of the costs, but argued that the state should cover the majority because the Legislature required the study.

“This is an important start,” Close said. “We now have leadership. We now have a solution. But we will need support in the Senate and support from the governor.”

Villaraigosa was to be joined at the news conference by Assemblymen Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and Tom McClintock (R-Northridge).

Secessionists have proposed seeking money as part of the regular budget, rather than through special legislation. That would allow pro-breakup forces to avoid an uphill fight in the state Senate, where several key lawmakers, including Senate leader John Burton (D-San Francisco), have already expressed opposition to funding a secession study.

Legislation would probably have to clear the Senate Committee on Local Government, whose chairman, Sen. Richard K. Rainey (R-Walnut Creek), has already come out against funding the study, and whose members include Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), one of secession’s most outspoken foes.

Close argued that the study should be regarded as a way for everyone to learn more about the workings of America’s second-largest city, not just a tool to benefit secessionists.

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In addition to the Valley, the San Pedro-Wilmington area is contemplating a split from Los Angeles.

“It’s not a divisive thing,” Close said of the study. “It is just a way to get information. I think this announcement is very encouraging, because it indicates that [Villaraigosa] and others are no longer viewing this as a Valley or San Pedro issue, but as something that could benefit all residents of Los Angeles.”