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SCA-12, A Constitutional Amendment, Could Change L.A. County Leadership

SCA-12, a controversial statewide constitutional amendment, could change the future of Los Angeles County leadership, officials said Friday.


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The Senate Constitutional Amendment is essentially aimed at Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the nation.

The legislation calls for more seats to be added to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and also creates a three-term limit. It also calls on counties with more than 5 million residents to have a CEO who’s limited to two six-year terms.

The legislation does this by calling for a re-evaluation of the county’s Board of Supervisors starting in 2020, based on the next census:

“Section 4 of Article XI of the California Constitution requires county charters to provide for a governing body of five or more members, elected by a district, with a requirement that the member reside in that district. Charter counties are subject to statutes that relate to apportioning population of governing body districts,” according to information provided by Senator Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, who authored the legislation.

The amendment requires any county with a population of 5 million or more at the 2020 decennial U.S. census, or any subsequent decennial U.S. census, to limit the population of individual supervisorial districts to approximately no more than twice the population of a Congressional District. This number cannot be reduced in the case of a future population decline.

That means after each U.S. Census (every 10 years), counties would have to make sure every county board seat doesn’t have more representation than two House Congressional districts, which is currently at about 1.4 million approximately. (One House seat currently represents about 710,000 residents.)

Current estimates put Los Angeles County at 5 representatives on the board for a population of more than 11 million, which puts the representation at a little over 2.1 million per supervisor.

For Senator Scott Wilk, who signed on as a co-author, it’s a common sense move to increase representation, and create more local leadership at the county level for communities such as Santa Clarita:

“L.A. County is larger than 42 states, yet at the local level, we’re governed by just five county supervisors,” Wilk said. “Five people who determine our fate on everything from transportation funding to social services.”

Those oppose, including Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the 5th District, which includes the Santa Clarita Valley, have called it Sacramento interfering with local government with a lone target, i.e Los Angeles County.

“SCA-12 is an end-run around county voters who have rejected changing the Board of Supervisors eight times,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger in a statement. “Now, a group of Sacramento politicians wants the entire state to vote to decide how L.A. County ought to be governed.”

The bill is expected to be taken up Monday in the Senate Appropriations Committee, which looks at the fiscal implications of each bill.

“An expansion of the board for the first time since 1850, when L.A. County’s population was just over 3,000,” Wilk said in a statement, “is a huge step in the right direction.”

Here’s an informational hearing on the bill:

The move follows several previous attempts that have been rejected by voters, the following mentioned in the bill’s analysis:

 On November 6, 1962, Los Angeles County voters rejected Proposition D, which would have expanded the Board of Supervisors from five members to seven members.

 At the November 2, 1976 General Election, Los Angeles County voters rejected Proposition B, which would have expanded the Board of Supervisors from five members to nine members.

 Proposition C on the November 3, 1992 ballot, would have increased the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors from five to nine members, and failed by a margin of about two-to-one.

 On the March 26, 1996 primary ballot, voters in Orange County rejected Measure U, a charter proposal to expand the board of supervisors from five members to nine members.

 On November 7, 2000, more than 64 percent of Los Angeles County voters rejected Measure A, which would have increased the number of county supervisors from five to nine.


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SCA-12, A Constitutional Amendment, Could Change L.A. County Leadership

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About Perry Smith

Perry Smith is a print and broadcast journalist who has won several awards for his focused, hyperlocal community coverage in several different regions of the country. In addition to five years of experience covering the Santa Clarita Valley, Smith, a San Fernando Valley native, has worked in newspapers and news websites in Los Angeles, the Northwest, the Central Valley and the South, before coming to KHTS in 2012. To contact Smith, email him at Perry@hometownstation.com.