Governor to Get Bill on an Independent Valley Council

The Assembly approved a bill Friday that would provide for at least 14 city council members and an elected mayor for the San Fernando Valley if the region breaks away from Los Angeles to become a city of its own.

Coming just two weeks after approval by the state Senate, the legislation by Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) now goes to the governor, who has not yet said whether he will sign it into law.

“Bob has looked at this as--if secession goes forward--the last thing that Valley residents want is to have less local representation than they have now,” said Paul Hefner, a spokesman for Hertzberg.

Current state law would require any new Valley city to start off with five council members, each representing about 265,000 people, who would choose a mayor from among themselves.

Members of the Los Angeles City Council represent about 235,000 people each. There are four council members whose districts are completely within the Valley, and three who represent part of the Valley and part of the city south of Mulholland Drive.

The Hertzberg bill would require a new Valley city to have council districts with no more than 100,000 people each. Based on the current population, that would mean at least 14 council members. The legislation also calls for a separately elected mayor, to be chosen by citywide ballot.

“This ensures greater representation of the people of the San Fernando Valley if it becomes its own city,” said Jeff Brain, president of the secession group Valley VOTE.

The group asked Hertzberg, who would prefer to see charter reform work than the city break apart, to introduce the legislation, which only applies to newly created cities with populations of 1 million or more.

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The bill passed on an initial vote of 44 to 10.

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge) said he believes having 14 council members is better than having five, but he voted against the legislation because he believes it should be left up to the voters of the new city, not the Legislature, to decide how large the council should be.

“I simply question whether it’s any of the state’s business,” said McClintock, who favors Valley cityhood. “This whole issue is about self-determination.”

Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), however, said he supported the legislation because of his concern that the Valley might otherwise get less representation if it secedes.

“Some of the people who want to secede have been complaining that their government is too far away and they don’t know their City Council members,” Cardenas said. “Why would we want to allow the same problems to exist with a new city?”