212-Word Secession Measure May Leave Voters Breathless

Here is Measure F, the San Fernando Valley secession proposal, as it appears on the Nov. 5 ballot. The Hollywood secession proposal, Measure H, is similarly worded.

“Special Reorganization of the San Fernando Valley area of the city of Los Angeles. Shall the order, adopted July 25, 2002, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, ordering the detachment of the San Fernando Valley area from the City of Los Angeles and the incorporation of the entire detached territory as a general law city be confirmed, subject to such terms and conditions, including establishment of a provisional appropriations limit for the new city of $1.354 billion, the requirement that the new city continue to levy all previously authorized and collected charges, fees, assessments and general or special taxes collected by the city of Los Angeles within the San Fernando Valley area, except as prohibited by law, and that the new city make annual fiscal mitigation payments to the city of Los Angeles of $127,122,000 adjusted for inflation and reduced by 5 percent per year for a total of 20 years, which payments the Local Agency Formation Commission has determined represent the difference between the revenue collected in the San Fernando Valley area by the city of Los Angeles in fiscal year 2000-01 over and above the amount expended by the city of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley area in 2000-01, all as more particularly described and set forth in the order?”