BOLAND TAKES PLUNGE - FLOOR VOTE FOR BILL.

Byline: Mark Katches and Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writers

Assemblywoman Paula Boland decided Wednesday to seek a vote on the Senate floor for her bill to restore the right of political self-determination to the San Fernando Valley, setting up a showdown vote as early as next week.

Boland, R-Granada Hills, who was at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, sent a letter to Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer late Wednesday saying she wants the full Senate to vote on the issue rather than allow further hearings in a Democratic-controlled committee that could drastically amend or kill the measure.

``That way it keeps it a pure bill,'' Boland said in an interview. ``This is a simple bill about giving the Valley the right to decide its future. I want it to go to the floor that way.''

Lockyer who had given Boland the choice of which course to take, immediately agreed to her request. But he said he would resist any efforts to amend the bill on the floor, which could rule out any compromise.

``I gave her that choice to have it voted on in its current form or go to appropriations to talk about the broader issues,'' said Lockyer, D-Hayward. ``My commitment is that it gets voted on the way it is. That's the way she's wanted it. So she gets her wish.''

Boland's bill would allow Valley voters to decide for themselves whether to secede from the city of Los Angeles and strip the Los Angeles City Council of its 20-year-old power to veto the results of such an election.

With Boland apparently two votes short of winning Senate passage, she has indicated that she might accept a citywide vote on any Valley secession movement in exchange for the council relinquishing its veto power.

Last week, Lockyer proposed a series of amendments that would gut the original bill and create a state commission to study the feasibility of Valley secession.

The amendments mandate a citywide vote on any secession move and remove the City Council's veto power, but only for the period of the commission's study.

The final drafts of the amendments were given to Boland's aides late Wednesday evening, calling for a 15-member Special Commission on Municipal Organization, appointed by the governor and the Legislature.

The special panel would supercede the Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission, which could not hold any hearings on secession during the 18-month existence of the commission, the amendments state.

The panel's primary goal would be to study statewide secession laws and oversee a $1.2 million study of the economic impact of a Valley split-off.

In addition to the commission, Lockyer is also calling for a seven-member Municipal Organization and Boundaries Advisory Committee, including at least one member chosen by the San Fernando Valley Chamber of Commerce, and others chosen by the mayor, City Council and Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The advisory committee, which was not outlined in Lockyer's initial proposal, would be responsible for holding public hearings. No city official can serve on the advisory committee, the amendments state.

Boland has rejected the Lockyer amendments, calling them an attempt to kill her bill by stalling any secession drive for up to two years with studies.

The amendments could have been added to the bill at a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee scheduled for today. But Lockyer said Boland's decision means that the hearing will be canceled, setting up a floor showdown.

By urging that the bill be sent to the floor, Boland avoids the likelihood that the Appropriations Committee would insert the amendments or the remote possibility that the bill would be killed there.

Either move would have allowed Senate Democrats to duck a floor vote on the bill in its simplest form. But on Wednesday, Lockyer responded to Boland's preference for a floor vote by saying he would drop his amendments.

Democrats in the Senate, including Lockyer, have said they are not afraid of an up-or-down vote. During a tense showdown last week, Lockyer told Boland he had done a head count and that she didn't have the 21 necessary votes to pass her measure in its current form.

Boland acknowledged she was running a risk of walking away with nothing by asking for a Senate vote.

``But this has been a risky bill from the start,'' Boland said. ``There has not been a time when there wasn't some risk for this bill. That's why I want to leave it alone. All that matters is this bill.''

With a straight floor vote, Boland supporters said Democrats will be faced head-on with the prickly issue of whether they want to thwart an attempt by Valley residents to determine their own destiny.

``Let's get this to the floor and get on with this,'' said one of the bill's supporters, Sen. Quentin Kopp, I-South San Francisco. ``Let's make the statement, and we'll see who's for self-determination and who isn't.''

Although Lockyer is now saying he would try to block any amendments to the bill, once the measure gets to the floor, several things could happen - especially since Democrats have not found a common ground on the issue.

Lockyer said he has gauged support for some of the alternative compromise ideas - including a straight swap of a citywide vote for the council veto - but would not discuss the chances of success on the floor.

Either way, it will be a test of Lockyer's power over his majority caucus and Boland's ability to make inroads with any legislators who do not agree that the bill should be killed.

Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, who worked behind the scenes to help draft the Lockyer amendments, has said in the past that he will introduce other changes giving communities within the city more control over zoning issues while modifying the citywide vote provisions.

Hayden said he fought unsuccessfully for these changes in private meetings with Lockyer.

But now Hayden, who said he would vote for the bill reluctantly in its current form, said he is not sure whether he will introduce amendments. Hayden has said for months that the Boland measure would lose unless amended with a citywide vote.

``If she goes for her bill and doesn't get 21, that's it,'' Hayden said. ``I hope she understands that.''

The citywide vote was initially embraced by the Los Angeles City Council, which voted 8-6 on May 14 to oppose the bill unless it was amended to include a citywide vote.

But recently the council's legislative analyst, Ron Deaton, said he was considering recommending that the council change its position to support the Lockyer amendments.

Amending a bill on the floor is much easier than passing one. It requires only a majority vote of those present - meaning that theoretically an amendment can pass on a 1-0 vote.

The debate will transpire without Boland getting a chance to speak on her bill, but she can do her best to orchestrate the events on the floor by talking to members there.

Before a floor vote, Boland will undoubtedly lobby senators to see if she can get 21 backers who will either support her bill in its present form or vote to rescind any amendments inserted on the floor, or insert compromise language that could lead to passage.

At last count, Boland had 19 supporters - all 16 Republicans, along with Hayden, Rosenthal and Kopp.

This week, Boland has heard from constituents who are split on the issue. Some want all or nothing, but others believe the citywide vote is better than the council veto power.

The United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley issued a statement Wednesday supporting the citywide vote compromise and rejecting the Lockyer amendments.

Boland also has heard from constituents who like the idea of an economic study proposed by Lockyer, but worry that any task force will be politically weighted against them - becoming, in effect, a new form of veto.