Local Agency Formation Commission
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.
They are established in each county by the Cortese–Knox–Hertzberg Act (Government Code §§ 56000 et seq.)[1]
History
Local Agency Formation Commissions were established in each California county (except 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).
Authority
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." Theie regulatory responsibilities include reviewing, approving or denying proposals to annex land to cities or special districts.
- 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 becauae the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government 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 require from two thirds of the entire community and rheaffected 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.
Types
According to the Committee on Local Government of the California Senate, LAFCOs regulate all city and most special district boundaries, including these:[2]
- 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
They do not regulate counties or special districts such as these:[2]
- 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
- Metropolitan water 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
- ^ "A Citizen's Guide to Planning". California Office of Planning and Research. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ^ a b It’s Time To Draw The Line (PDF), California Senate