BILL AIMS TO EXPAND NUMBER OF SUPERVISORS.

Byline: Douglas Haberman Daily News Staff Writer

State Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, introduced state legislation Friday that would add at least two members to the five-person Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Voters have rejected expanding the board in three previous elections - in 1962, 1976 and 1992 - but the lawmaker said such a move is desirable to increase the public's access to their elected supervisors. Each supervisor represents more than 1.9 million residents.

``There comes a time when we need to increase the number of representatives in order to provide the most effective representation,'' said Polanco, the state Senate majority leader. ``Now is the time.''

His measure calls for putting a state constitutional amendment on the ballot in November 2000. New district lines could be drawn in 2001 with data from the 2000 U.S. census, he said.

Polanco said he would prefer to see the supervisors place a county measure on the ballot instead of having a statewide vote. He described his legislation as the starting point for negotiations.

Supervisor Don Knabe said also he would prefer to see such a decision made by county voters instead of voters statewide, and would consider placing a county measure on the ballot even if he wouldn't support it himself.

Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke also would prefer a county ballot measure, a spokeswoman said.

However, Supervisor Gloria Molina issued a statement in support of Polanco's legislation. She also supported his call for limiting the board's budget to its current size, dividing the funds among seven supervisors instead of five.

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, however, opposes a larger board.

``The political charade of expanding the Board of Supervisors does not add one more sheriff's deputy, firefighter, child abuse worker, library or park to the county,'' Antonovich said in a statement. ``It only adds more politicians. Bigger government does not mean better government or cost-effective government.''

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky hadn't seen Polanco's proposal, and his spokesman had no comment.

Support for a bigger board is motivated partly by ethnic politics. About a dozen supporters of a board expansion, almost entirely Latinos and Asians, joined Polanco, saying it would give minorities a greater say in county government.

Javier Flores of the San Fernando Valley Mexican American Political Association said minorities lack adequate representation on the board. With two more members, the hope is that at least one more member would be Latino, meaning there ``would be individuals in there who would fight for the equitable distribution of resources,'' Flores said.

As director of Pueblo y Salud in the city of San Fernando, he has seen the Latino community get less than its fair share of county health dollars, he said.

Asians also would benefit from more and smaller supervisorial districts, said Stewart Kwoh of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

``They want to have a greater say, and with these huge districts that simply is not possible,'' Kwoh said.

Alan Clayton, who has researched political remapping on behalf of the city-county Latino Redistricting Coalition, said seven supervisors would each represent about 1.4 million residents.