CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTION

A Brief History of the Act

The procedures for establishment and revising local government boundaries are set in the constitution and laws of the 50 states. Some alternative processes include judicial approval, special state legislation, or the use of “boundary commissions” such as California’s formation commissions (LAFCOs).

The Cortese-Knox Local Government Reorganization Act of 1985 followed several years of cooperative efforts between Assembly Member Dominic Cortese, former Chair of the Assembly Local Government Committee, and the California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions (CALAFCO). The Act, which became operative January 1, 1986, consolidates three major laws used by California’s local governments for boundary changes into a single, unified law.

The three laws which previously governed changes in boundaries and organizations of cities and special districts were:

• The Knox-Nisbet Act of 1963, which established LAFCOs with regulatory authority over local agency boundary changes.
• The District Reorganization Act of 1965 (DRA), which combined separate laws governing special district boundaries into a single law.
• The Municipal Organization Act of 1977 (MORA), which consolidated various laws on city incorporation and annexation into one law.

These three laws contained many parallel and duplicative provisions. However, similar procedures varied slightly from one law to another, and the proceedings necessary for one type of boundary change were found in vastly different sections of the three laws. Although MORA was the most current revision of city annexation statutes, many cities in the state were required to use DRA so that areas being annexed could be simultaneously detached from special districts. All three laws contained application and hearing procedures for LAFCOs but there were inconsistencies among them. This made city and district boundary changes unnecessarily confusing and complicated for local agencies and LAFCOs, as well as residents and property owners.

In June 1981, the CALAFCO executive board, at the recommendation of Ruth Benell, Los Angeles LAFCO Executive Officer and Chair of the LAFCO legislative committee, established a subcommittee of LAFCO staff representatives to draft legislation for consolidating the three laws. The subcommittee, composed of Chair Bill Davis (San Mateo LAFCO Executive Officer), Marvin Panter (Fresno LAFCO Executive Officer) and Janet Robinson (Sacramento LAFCO staff) spent three years rewriting the law. In February 1983, the CALAFCO legislative committee, composed of LAFCO commissioners and staff members from around the state, reviewed and made recommendations on a number of problem areas found in consolidating the laws. An expanded CALAFCO technical review committee met in December 1983 to review a draft of the new law, and early in 1984, the draft was approved by CALAFCO legislative committee and executive board.

Assembly Member Cortese had served on Santa Clara LAFCO while a Santa Clara County Supervisor, as well as on the CALAFCO executive board, and was aware of the problems encountered in working with these laws. In February 1984, he agreed to introduce legislation which would carry out the consolidating effort. He also determined that the bill would be limited to consolidating procedural requirements and would not include changes in legislative policy. In March and April 1984, Casey Sparks Kaneko, Principal Consultant to the Assembly Local Government Committee and Legislative Counsel, reviewed and revised the draft prepared by CALAFCO. Assembly Member Cortese released the consolidated law in May 1984 as Preprint AB 15 for review and comment by local agencies, the League of California Cities, County Supervisors Association of California (now the California State Association of Counties), California Special Districts Association, Association of California Water Agencies, California Building Industry Association, California Farm Bureau Federation, and other interested groups and individuals. The Assembly Local Government Committee held an interim hearing to receive testimony on Preprint AB15 at the State Capitol on October 15, 1984. Testimony at the hearing supported the concept of consolidating the three boundary change laws.

The final draft of the consolidated law was introduced by Assembly Member Cortese in December 1984 as AB 115. The bill was heard by the Assembly Local Government and Ways and Means Committees and by the Senate Local Government and Appropriations Committee from March through July 1985. After several minor amendments, AB 115 was approved by the Legislature on August 22, signed by Governor Deukmejian on September 9, and chartered as Chapter 541, Statutes of 1985.

Several other bills in the 1985 legislative session amended sections of the Government Code affected by AB 115. Assembly Bill 558 (Cortese) conformed these other bills to the new Local Government Reorganization Act and added the name of former Assembly Member John Knox to the new law, co-author of the Knox-Nisbet Act of 1963 which established LAFCOs. AB 558, Chapter 1599, Statutes of 1985, was approved by the Legislature on September 13, the last day of the legislative session, and was signed by the Governor on October 2, 1985, completing the “Cortese-Knox Local Government Reorganization Act of 1985” to be operative on January 1, 1986.

Numerous sections have been added, amended, or repealed since 1986. Speaker Robert M. Hertzberg introduced AB 2838 in 2000 to comprehensively revise the Act. His bill incorporated many of the recommendations made by the Commission on Local Governance in the 21^st Century in its report, “Growth Within Bounds.” The extent of revisions resulting in AB 2838 is reflected in the Act’s new title “The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000”.