LOCKYER PLAN COULD TIE UP SECESSION WITH 2-YEAR STUDY.

Byline: Mark Katches Daily News Sacramento Bureau

Rejecting the right of San Fernando Valley residents to decide their own political future, the leader of the state Senate proposed Monday a delay of up to two years while the issue is studied by a blue-ribbon commission.

Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer, D-Hayward, sought drastic changes to the bill proposed by Republican Assemblywoman Paula Boland that would restore the right to political self-determination that the Legislature stripped from the Valley 19 years ago.

The Lockyer changes include a citywide vote on any secession effort - a position advocated by the bill's opponents, including the Los Angeles City Council which is lobbying heavily to protect its veto power over any vote by Valley residents. Lockyer's measure also calls for a state-funded $1.2 million study to determine the economic impacts of a San Fernando Valley split from the city of Los Angeles.

Boland, R-Granada Hills, appeared stunned by Lockyer's amendments and the swift-moving developments Monday. She said she was told by other senators that amendments were being proposed, but didn't learn of the details until she spoke with Lockyer directly late Monday afternoon.

``I've shared this document (the amendments) with people in the Valley,'' Boland said. ``I really haven't had any time to study it. I've told Lockyer that I would talk to him before I talk to the press. I'm still analyzing it.''

Lockyer, D-Hayward, said the decision of secession is too important to be decided by just one area of the city.

``It's a little like the lifeboat in a storm for some to suggest that they can throw others overboard and the ones getting thrown overboard don't get to vote on who stays and who doesn't,'' Lockyer said. ``At least for the time being, everyone in L.A. has a right to be involved in the decision. . . . People in the Valley need to be sensitive to the fact that people in greater Los Angeles have some legitimate role in these decisions.''

``Until now, people in the Valley have been saying that a citywide vote means doom,'' said Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles. ``They may think it's a new form of veto. I think they might say this is better than nothing, but it's not good enough.''

In outlining his changes, Lockyer said he wants a blue-ribbon commission appointed by the governor and Legislature to oversee the economic study. The commission would be charged with developing statewide standards for secession and incorporation. Those standards could end up looking like the Boland bill or something completely different, Lockyer said.

The Boland bill, a simple piece of legislation barely spanning one page, removed the City Council veto over any secession drive in the city of Los Angeles.

Supporters have said it gives Valley residents local control. Opponents believe it is a divisive bill that gives the Valley too much power over a decision that has citywide implications.

``We're very happy about the citywide vote provisions,'' said city lobbyist Leslie McFadden. ``But until we actually see the language, it's hard to know.''

The economic study - which would determine how city services and assets would be distributed and paid for - would have to be completed by the end of 1997, and the blue-ribbon committee would be disbanded on June 30, 1998, when their final report on statewide standards would be due. When the study is over, the law would revert to the City Council veto until a new law is approved by the Legislature.

``It takes a simple bill and complicates it,'' said Sen. Herschel Rosenthal, a Valley lawmaker who supports the Boland bill. ``I would prefer that we go with the bill in its present form.''

But Rosenthal added that the Lockyer amendments may be the only way to pass the bill which lacks the 21 votes necessary in the upper house.

Hayden said he was pleased to see some of the changes in the bill proposed by Lockyer but would continue to push for further amendments, including the option of more local control over zoning and other issues for smaller communities.

The amendments could be introduced as early as Thursday at a Senate Rules Committee meeting where they are expected to pass, said Lockyer, who controls the influential committee.

The bill, AB 2043, would then be sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee for a hearing next week.

It was the first time Lockyer had taken a position on the bill, which remained bottled up in his Senate Rules Committee on Monday.

By introducing the amendments, Lockyer has proposed tipping the Boland bill on its head - taking a simple measure that was designed to allow Valley residents the sole right to determine their own destiny and turning control over to a blue-ribbon committee.

The amendments also would bypass the Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission, an agency Lockyer said cannot be trusted to do a fair job.

The Lockyer amendments could actually speed up a secession. It would bypass the LAFCO requirements that Valley residents gather signatures of 25 percent of the registered voters in the area wishing to secede in order for an economic study to get under way - a process that could take several years.

Instead the study would begin early next year if the bill is approved and signed by Gov. Pete Wilson.

``Arguably it is a faster process from the Valley's perspective than might be the case under the current proposal,'' Lockyer said.

The amendment calling for the study affects only the Valley. Other secession movements still would have to go through LAFCO.

Lockyer said he has not consulted all the members of the Los Angeles County delegation - a group that has been divided into three camps over the Boland bill.

``This is a recommendation I'm making to colleagues as to the appropriate disposition and content of the Boland measure,'' Lockyer said. ``I think it addresses both local and statewide issues in a constructive way.''

Lockyer spent several hours Monday huddling with state senators from Los Angeles County to sell his proposal. The proposal was drafted over the last two weeks. Initially, Lockyer's plan did not include the citywide vote.

He also intended to send the bill to the Senate Committee on Elections and Reapportionment, where Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, is the committee chairman. Polanco has vowed to kill the bill.

Instead he has sent the bill to one of his most loyal lieutenants, Sen. Patrick Johnston, who voted against the bill in the Senate Local Government Committee.

Johnston, D-Stockton, is the chairman of the Appropriations Committee and is a member of that panel, which includes seven Democrats, five Republicans and one Independent. But none of the Democrats or Lucy Killea, I-San Diego, on the panel is among the supporters of the Boland bill in its present form.

Other supporters of the Boland bill said they had mixed feelings about the amendments.

Sen. Quentin Kopp, I-South San Francisco, said he does not agree with the citywide vote provisions but thinks Lockyer is working on a compromise that will allow the Senate to pass some version of the bill.

``He did say he didn't want Polanco holding the bill, he wanted to get something out,'' Kopp said.