BILL TO STUDY COUNTY BREAKUP ADVANCES.

Byline: Amy Collins Daily News Staff Writer

Assemblyman George Runner expressed confidence Wednesday that his bill to study the merits of breaking up Los Angeles County will be signed into law after receiving approval from a key Senate committee.

``We have looked at this as our biggest hurdle,'' Runner said after the bill received a 4-0 vote in the Senate's Local Government Committee on Wednesday.

Runner, R-Lancaster, said he was afraid committee members Richard Polanco and Diane Watson, both Los Angeles Democrats, would kill the bill. Neither voted on it.

The bill, AB 303, would allow two or more cities representing about 2 million residents, to form a committee and fund a $1 million study to determine if there is a better way to deliver services to the 10 million residents of Los Angeles County.

If the bill becomes law, Runner said, he would look to the cities to take a lead in forming the committee. He said about a dozen cities, councils or council members from the county have expressed support for the bill.

But Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who represents Runner's area for Los Angeles County, has said in interviews he is opposed to breaking up the county.

Once quoted as saying a study isn't necessary since ``a moron knows what the problem is'' with the county, Antonovich has pointed blame at the state for continuing to take funds traditionally reserved for county expenditures.

But Runner said that argument doesn't garner much support in Sacramento. ``That's a tough one to fly up here,'' he said.

The bill could turn out to be the first step in breaking up Los Angeles County, the largest county in the country with five supervisors representing nearly 10 million people. Runner has said the county might be split into six pieces.