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Local Agency Formation Commissions or LAFCOs are regional service planning agencies of the State of California. LAFCOs are located in all 58 counties and exercise regulatory and planning powers in step with their prescribed directive to oversee the establishment, expansion, governance, and dissolution of local government agencies and their municipal service areas to meet current and future community needs. LAFCOs were established in 1963 and administer a section of California planning law now known as the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2001.

LAFCOs' regulatory powers are outlined in California Government Code Sections 56375 and 56133. This include approving, establishing, expanding, reorganizing, and, in limited circumstances, dissolving cities and special districts. LAFCOs are also responsible for approving all outside service extensions by contract or agreement beginning in 2001. LAFCOs' regulatory powers are generally exercised in response to applications filed by other local agencies, landowners, or registered voters. LAFCOs' are also allowed to initiate certain proposals if consistent with a recommendation from its own planning studies, such as establishing, consolidating, or dissolving special districts.

LAFCOs' planning responsibilities are explicit to informing their regulatory powers and highlighted by establishing spheres of influence for all cities and special districts. Spheres of influence represent the State of California's version of municipal growth boundaries and demark the territory that the LAFCO independently believes represents the appropriate and probable future jurisdictional boundary and service area of the subject agency. All jurisdictional boundary changes and outside service extensions, notably, must be consistent with the subject agencies' spheres of influence, with limited exceptions.

State law requires all 58 LAFCOs appoint their own executive officer who serves as the agency administrator and responsible for making recommendations on all jurisdictional changes within the county. Larger LAFCOs - typically in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California - are staffed with three to ten employees plus outside consultants. The largest LAFCO in California in terms of both staff and budget is San Diego with 10 staff members and an operating budget of over $2.0 million.

History[edit]

They were established in 1963 in all California counties except San Francisco, which would obtain one only in 2001, by the California State Legislature. Their current legal authority and mandate are defined by the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 (Government Code Section 56000 et seq). LAFCOs' powers and duties have expanded in step with subsequent legislation and most recently include regulating cities and districts' ability to provide services outside their jurisdictional boundaries by contract or agreement. LAFCOs also must approve requests by districts to either expand their service powers and/or divest existing service powers.

Authority[edit]

LAFCOs have both regulatory and planning authority:

As a regulatory agency, they are for "discouraging urban sprawl and encouraging the orderly formation and development of local agencies" based on "local circumstances and conditions." Key regulatory responsibilities include establishing (formations and incorporations), expanding (annexations), decreasing (detachments), combining (mergers and consolidations), and eliminating (dissolutions and disincorporations) cities and special districts as well as authorizing outside service contracts.
As a planning agency, it is charged to determine and update, at least every five years, the sphere of influence of each city and special district. In updating spheres of influence, it must prepare Municipal Service Reviews of relevant local agencies and services. It may initiate proposals to consolidate special districts, merge a special district with a city, dissolve a special district, establish a subsidiary district, or any combination of them.

Under the agency, no community within an incorporated city has ever been granted city status. That is partially because the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 makes it difficult for communities to break away from their original cities, as the community must gain approval from the city from which it is detaching, and it requires two thirds of the entire community and re-affected city to agree. The only community within a city ever to be brought before a vote by LAFCO was the San Fernando Valley in the early 2000s, which was denied. No detachments from a city have been successful in the state since 1947.

LAFCOs are governed by a commission consisting of appointed elected officials representing the county board of supervisors, city councils, and - at least for most - special district directors. (Not all LAFCOs have special district representation). The appointed elected officials on LAFCO also appoint members from the general public to serve on the commission. LAFCO funding is provided by local agencies and divided in one-third apportionments between the county, cities, and special districts with the latter amounts further divided among the individual agencies based on tax revenues.

Types[edit]

According to the Committee on Local Government of the California Senate, LAFCOs regulate all city and most special district boundaries, including these:^[1]

Airport districts
California water districts
Community services districts
County sanitation districts
County service areas
County water districts
County waterworks districts
Fire protection districts
Harbor and port districts
Healthcare districts
Irrigation districts
Library districts
Mosquito abatement districts
Municipal utility districts
Municipal water districts
Pest control districts
Police protection districts
Public cemetery districts
Public utility districts
Reclamation districts
Recreation and park districts
Resource conservation districts
Sanitary districts
Sewer districts
Sewer maintenance districts
Vector control districts

LAFCOs do not directly regulate counties. There are also certain types of special districts that are exempt from LAFCO oversight. Among them are the following:^[1]

Air pollution control districts
Air quality management districts
Bridge or highway districts
Community college districts
Community facilities districts (Mello-Roos districts)
Improvement districts
Joint power agencies
Joint highway districts
Permanent road divisions
Redevelopment agencies
School districts
Separation of grade districts
Service zones of special districts
Special assessment districts
Transit or rapid transit districts
Unified or union high school library districts

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b It's Time To Draw The Line (PDF), California Senate, archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2013

External links[edit]

[its_time-1] It's Time To Draw The Line (PDF), California Senate, archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2013

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Service planning agency in California}}
-'''Local Agency Formation Commissions''' or '''LAFCOs''' are political entities sponsored by the [[State of California]]. They regulate the formation and development of local governmental subdivisons and other agencies within California. Their regulatory duties include approving, establishing, expanding, reorganizing, and, in limited circumstances, decertifying municipalities and most types of special districts. Spheres of influence demark the territory tha the LAFCO independently believes represents the appropriate and probable future jurisdictional boundary and service area of the subject agency. All jurisdictional boundary changes and outside service extensions, notably, must be consistent with the subject agencies' spheres of influence, with limited exceptions.
+{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Use American English|date=October 2023}}
+'''Local Agency Formation Commissions''' or '''LAFCOs''' are regional service planning agencies of the [[State of California]]. LAFCOs are located in all 58 counties and exercise regulatory and planning powers in step with their prescribed directive to oversee the establishment, expansion, governance, and dissolution of local government agencies and their municipal service areas to meet current and future community needs. LAFCOs were established in 1963 and administer a section of California planning law now known as the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2001.
+LAFCOs' regulatory powers are outlined in California Government Code Sections 56375 and 56133. This include approving, establishing, expanding, reorganizing, and, in limited circumstances, dissolving cities and special districts. LAFCOs are also responsible for approving all outside service extensions by contract or agreement beginning in 2001. LAFCOs' regulatory powers are generally exercised in response to applications filed by other local agencies, landowners, or registered voters. LAFCOs' are also allowed to initiate certain proposals if consistent with a recommendation from its own planning studies, such as establishing, consolidating, or dissolving special districts.
-They are established in each county by the Cortese–Knox–Hertzberg Act ([[California Codes|Government Code]] §§ 56000 et seq.)<ref>{{cite web|title=A Citizen's Guide to Planning|publisher=California Office of Planning and Research|accessdate=26 August 2013|url=http://ceres.ca.gov/planning/planning_guide/plan_index.html}}</ref>
+LAFCOs' planning responsibilities are explicit to informing their regulatory powers and highlighted by establishing spheres of influence for all cities and special districts. Spheres of influence represent the State of California's version of municipal growth boundaries and demark the territory that the LAFCO independently believes represents the appropriate and probable future jurisdictional boundary and service area of the subject agency. All jurisdictional boundary changes and outside service extensions, notably, must be consistent with the subject agencies' spheres of influence, with limited exceptions.
+State law requires all 58 LAFCOs appoint their own executive officer who serves as the agency administrator and responsible for making recommendations on all jurisdictional changes within the county. Larger LAFCOs - typically in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California - are staffed with three to ten employees plus outside consultants. The largest LAFCO in California in terms of both staff and budget is San Diego with 10 staff members and an operating budget of over $2.0 million.
 ==History==
-Local Agency Formation Commissions were established in each [[California]] county (except [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], which would obtain one in 2001) by the [[California State Legislature]] in April 1963. Their current legal authority and mandate are defined by the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Act of 2000 (Government Code Section 56000 ''et seq'').
+They were established in 1963 in all [[California counties]] except [[San Francisco]], which would obtain one only in 2001, by the [[California State Legislature]]. Their current legal authority and mandate are defined by the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 (Government Code Section 56000 ''et seq''). LAFCOs' powers and duties have expanded in step with subsequent legislation and most recently include regulating cities and districts' ability to provide services outside their jurisdictional boundaries by contract or agreement. LAFCOs also must approve requests by districts to either expand their service powers and/or divest existing service powers.
 ==Authority==
 LAFCOs have both regulatory and planning authority:
-* As a regulatory agency, LAFCo is charged with “discouraging [[urban sprawl]] and encouraging the orderly formation and development of local agencies” based on “local circumstances and conditions.” LAFCo's regulatory responsibilities include reviewing, approving or denying proposals to annex land to cities or special districts.
+* As a regulatory agency, they are for "discouraging [[urban sprawl]] and encouraging the orderly formation and development of local agencies" based on "local circumstances and conditions." Key regulatory responsibilities include establishing (formations and incorporations), expanding (annexations), decreasing (detachments), combining (mergers and consolidations), and eliminating (dissolutions and disincorporations) cities and special districts as well as authorizing outside service contracts.
-* As a planning agency, LAFCo is charged to determine and update, at least every five years, the “sphere of influence” of each city and special district. In updating spheres of influence, the LAFCo must prepare Municipal Service Reviews of relevant local agencies and services. A LAFCo may initiate proposals to consolidate special districts, merge a special district with a city, dissolve a special district, establish a subsidiary district, or any combination of these changes.
+* As a planning agency, it is charged to determine and update, at least every five years, the sphere of influence of each city and special district. In updating spheres of influence, it must prepare Municipal Service Reviews of relevant local agencies and services. It may initiate proposals to consolidate special districts, merge a special district with a city, dissolve a special district, establish a subsidiary district, or any combination of them.
+Under the agency, no community within an incorporated city has ever been granted city status. That is partially because the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 makes it difficult for communities to break away from their original cities, as the community must gain approval from the city from which it is detaching, and it requires two thirds of the entire community and re-affected city to agree. The only community within a city ever to be brought before a vote by LAFCO was the [[San Fernando Valley]] in the early 2000s, which was denied. No detachments from a city have been successful in the state since 1947.
+LAFCOs are governed by a commission consisting of appointed elected officials representing the county board of supervisors, city councils, and - at least for most - special district directors. (Not all LAFCOs have special district representation). The appointed elected officials on LAFCO also appoint members from the general public to serve on the commission. LAFCO funding is provided by local agencies and divided in one-third apportionments between the county, cities, and special districts with the latter amounts further divided among the individual agencies based on tax revenues.
-Under the agency, no community within an incorporated city has ever been granted city status. This is partially due to the recently passed Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Act of 2000, which makes it difficult for communities to break away from their original cities by forcing the community to gain approval from the city it is detaching from, and heightened requirements from an election (2/3 vote from entire community and affected city). The only community within a city ever to be brought before a vote by LAFCo was the [[San Fernando Valley]] in the early 2000s, which was denied. No detachments from a city have been successful in the state since 1947.
 ===Types===
-According to the [[Committee on Local Government of the California Senate]], LAFCOs regulate all city and most special district boundaries, including:<ref name="its_time">{{citation | title= It’s Time To Draw The Line | publisher= [[California Senate]] | url= http://www.calafco.org/docs/TimetoDrawLine_03.pdf}}</ref>
+According to the Committee on Local Government of the California Senate, LAFCOs regulate all city and most special district boundaries, including these:<ref name="its_time">{{citation|title=It's Time To Draw The Line |publisher=[[California Senate]] |url=http://www.calafco.org/docs/TimetoDrawLine_03.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203160416/http://www.calafco.org/docs/TimetoDrawLine_03.pdf |archive-date=2013-02-03 }}</ref>
 * Airport districts
@@ Line 43: / Line 51: @@
 * Vector control districts
-But not counties or special districts such as:<ref name="its_time"/>
+LAFCOs do not directly regulate counties. There are also certain types of special districts that are exempt from LAFCO oversight. Among them are the following:<ref name="its_time"/>
 * Air pollution control districts
@@ Line 49: / Line 57: @@
 * Bridge or highway districts
 * Community college districts
-* Community facilities districts (Mello-Roos districts)
+* Community facilities districts ([[Mello-Roos]] districts)
 * Improvement districts
 * Joint power agencies
 * Joint highway districts
-* Metropolitan water districts
 * Permanent road divisions
 * Redevelopment agencies
@@ Line 68: / Line 75: @@
 ==External links==
 * [http://www.calafco.org/ California Association of LAFCos]
+* [http://www.sdlafco.org/ San Diego County LAFCO]
 [[Category:Local government in California]]