PANEL BACKS SECESSION BILL; SENATE COMMITTEE VOTE GIVES SUPPORTERS HOPE.

Byline: Paul Hefner Daily News Sacramento Bureau

With last-minute lobbying by state Sen. President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer, a Senate committee endorsed on Wednesday a bill to strip the Los Angeles City Council of its veto power over secession drives.

The same panel that only two weeks added a pair of hostile amendments to the measure this time approved it and - after a surprise appearance by Lockyer - narrowly rejected further changes to the bill.

The 4-0 vote by the Local Government Committee marked a turnaround from the panel's last hearing on the measure, AB 62, and revived hopes among supporters that the bill would become law.

``Hallelujah, we're moving. At least we're moving,'' said Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys.

Hertzberg, co-author of the bill with Assemblyman Tom McClintock, R-Granada Hills, predicted an acceptable right-to-secede measure would ultimately win passage.

The measure calls for taking away the council's authority to block any secession movement. Instead, it calls for a citywide vote on secession.

The committee vote buoyed spirits among leaders of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, a San Fernando Valley group backing the right-to-secede.

``Two weeks ago, the session was very depressing. It looked like the bill was in critical shape,'' said Valley VOTE co-chair Richard Close. ``Today, what happened is very encouraging.''

But problems remain, especially the two amendments added at the urging of Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, an opponent of any secession.

One Polanco amendment calling for eliminating the veto statewide attracted opposition from representatives for local governments outside Los Angeles.

``We recognize that there may be a special situation in Los Angeles, but the rest of us ought to be left alone,'' said Ernest Silva, a lobbyist for the League of California Cities.

Roxanne Miller, a lobbyist for San Jose, also weighed in against the measure, telling the committee that allowing areas within current cities to break away could create ``doughnuts'' - cities with holes in the center.

``We think this is miserable planning,'' she said.

The bill also contains a provision requiring a special eight-member commission to be formed to study any secession proposal. With four members appointed by the League of Cities, McClintock said no secession would ever be approved.

``The special commission is bogus, let's understand that,'' McClintock told the committee. ``Mr. Polanco has been very clever in crafting it in that manner.''

Polanco, a member of the committee, proposed an additional amendment Wednesday that would have required the special commission to complete its work before any secession could be put to a vote.

``The question before us is, is it good public policy to have the answers of the commission before the election?'' Polanco asked.

McClintock and Hertzberg said this could delay secession by up to two years.

When the committee voted 3-2 for the amendment, Polanco tried to close the issue while Sen. Quentin Kopp, I-South San Francisco, was temporarily absent.

Lockyer then made his appearance during the stalemate. He worked his way around the committee room, quietly conferring with fellow Democrats Polanco, Patrick Johnston, and Ruben Ayala, the committee's chair.

When Kopp returned to the committee, he cast the tying vote to defeat Polanco's amendment. Polanco and Sen. Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles, another secession opponent, left before the committee approved the bill.

Valley activists, who had criticized Lockyer after he dropped his own bill on the subject and then named Polanco to the committee, praised him Wednesday.

``Lockyer has stated that he would actively support getting the bill to the floor of the Senate and then allowing the Senate to vote for or against the bill,'' Close said. ``He is fulfilling his promise to us.''

The bill proceeds next to the Senate Rules Committee, which Lockyer chairs.

Meanwhile, the committee took no action on a rival proposal by Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, D-Panorama City, which would have required a two-thirds majority vote citywide to approve any secession.