Secession Foe Named to Influential Panel

SACRAMENTO — A key foe of San Fernando Valley secession legislation, state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), was named to the committee that could kill two secession-related bills this week.

Polanco, who was appointed Monday to the Local Government Committee by Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), vowed to do his best to block the legislation by amending it to apply statewide.

That, Polanco said, would change the attitude of some legislators who don’t care about Los Angeles but would care if cities in their own districts were affected by a change in the law governing dissolution of municipalities.

Polanco said he would also amend the pending bills to include a state-funded study of the impact of secession on Los Angeles.

Such a study had been part of Lockyer’s own secession legislation, which he dropped last month in deference to Polanco and other Los Angeles senators who oppose facilitating a breakup of Los Angeles.

Lockyer--in a letter to Polanco made public by Polanco--also stated that if the law is changed to eliminate the power of city councils to veto secession requests, the change should apply throughout the state, not just to Los Angeles.

“I believe the City Council veto should be eliminated statewide,” Lockyer wrote. “If a City Council veto is indefensible in Los Angeles, fairness suggests that it is indefensible as a statewide policy.”

The Local Government Committee, which has supported two earlier secession bills, meets Wednesday to take up two measures passed by the Assembly.