STATE MAY RIGHT OLD WRONG ASSEMBLY BILL WOULD CREATE SEPARATE STATISTICAL DISTRICT FOR THE VALLEY.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - A major step in carving out a separate identity for the San Fernando Valley will be debated in Sacramento on Tuesday, when a bill to create a Valley statistical district comes up for a hearing.

The bill, AB 2207, would require state agencies to consider the Valley a separate area for the purpose of keeping data that is normally tracked on a city-by-city basis. Backers argue the Valley, even though most of it is part of the city of Los Angeles, is such a large and discrete region with its own identity, culture and demographics that it deserves its own identity in such statistics.

The information will help Valley planners and analysts in dealing with problems unique to the area, such as transportation, development and economic planning.

``It's how we keep track of how we're doing as a people and who we are as a people,'' said Bob Scott, a leader of the Valley's Economic Alliance and Industry and Commerce Association. ``It's how we know if we're doing better or worse. It's how we're changing as a people.''

``Keeping statistics on everything from crime to demographics lets you know what your community is about. It's like taking inventory in a business - if you know what's on your shelves, you can better manage it.''

The bill would only apply to those portions of the Valley that are part of the city of Los Angeles, because separate cities in the region such as Burbank, Glendale and San Fernando already are tallied separately in state statistics.

So far there is no known opposition to the bill, which has support from Mayor James Hahn, the Los Angeles City Council, and the county Board of Supervisors. Valley activists are working to get a similar district established at the federal level and have already got districts approved at the city and county level.

Theoretically, such a district should already exist.

More than two decades ago, then Sen. Alan Robbins authored a law that created a Valley district for statistical purposes. But the law only applied to three state agencies - Finance, Health and Transportation - and said they only had to comply if the city of Los Angeles ``continues to provide all necessary data.''

Facing secession sentiments that simmered until the 2002 cityhood vote, the city did not provide the data and the law was ignored.

The current bill, authored by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, makes the data collection mandatory for all state agencies. Additionally, the City Council and Hahn recently approved a resolution supporting a statistical district for the city.

``By getting the information this bill is seeking we'll be able to improve the planning for transportation projects in particular. Also land use, economic development, any number of things that need to be addressed,'' Levine said.

``We went through the secession discussion and that's been settled for a while, but something like this could help the Valley address some of the issues generated by the secession discussion without some of the negative aspects that came with the secession debate.''

As an additional attempt to strengthen the Valley's political muscle, Levine is also working to create a legislative caucus for the Valley. He is sending letters out to the dozen other legislators who represent some portion of the Valley and then will seek permission from Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, to create the caucus.

Creating the caucus would make it easier for Valley legislators to meet on a regular basis and work together on the issues that matter to the region, he said.

The hearing on the Valley statistical district is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday in the state Capitol, Room 447.

Harrison Sheppard, [phone]

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com