VERNON, Calif., July 5, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The most recent analysis of AB 781 by the Senate Governance and Finance Committee shows that AB 781 is chock full of flaws, which is to be expected from a bill drafted in secret and without any input from the parties directly affected.
"The most telling comment in the analysis is that the bill is silent on how local officials will implement the intricate details that must be worked out. In other words, the rush by the Speaker to ram his bill through the legislature overwhelms any considered thought for either the consequences or the implementation," said Marisa Olguin, President and CEO of the Vernon Chamber of Commerce.
The analysis goes on to bluntly state: "AB 781 is incomplete. Although the bill answers many of the obvious questions about Vernon's disincorporation, legislators don't have the foresight to anticipate every nuance about governance, land use, and public finance." And therein lies precisely the problem that rational people have been trying for months to convey to the Speaker.
While "disincorporating" a city is a simple and headline grabbing solution to a small problem (compared to the extremely high unemployment rate in the State of California), the issue is that the consequences of disincorporation will dwarf any temporary satisfaction that would come from the Speaker being able to proclaim he has "solved the problem" of Vernon.
Speaker John Pérez's continued "go it alone, my way or the highway" approach is at this point simply a matter of ego over common sense. Despite his claims to have met with business and labor leaders when drafting his amendments, Speaker John Pérez failed to meet once with Vernon businesses, which are most directly effected by AB 46 and AB 781.
In short, the introduction of AB 781 is a wholly inadequate bill purporting to address the disaster that is AB 46. For months Assembly Speaker John Pérez has been ramrodding AB 46, the bill he authored to disincorporate Vernon, through the State Assembly. While promising to listen to both local and national businesses, along with the tens of thousand of employees of the city, and to amend his bill to prevent the inevitable loss of jobs, Speaker Pérez did neither while the bill was in the Assembly. Instead, he yielded his full power as Assembly Speaker and forced the measure through without any substantive alterations.
Speaker Pérez has stated that his drafted amendments would address the concerns of the businesses and the negative impacts that his legislation would have on jobs in Vernon should the City be disincorporated. AB 781 does not address our concerns. Instead, we have seen a politician use the cover of "corruption" to railroad his legalization though the Assembly and now we are hearing that he is threatening Senators who may not support AB 46 and AB 781 by telling them that he will not allow their legislation to pass the Assembly unless he gets their support.
"No matter how Speaker Pérez tries to sugar coat it, AB 46 and AB 781 will result in the loss of jobs, cause business taxes, property taxes, insurance rates and electrical rates to increase and result in higher crime throughout the region and less environmental overview. Unexplainably, AB 46 and AB 781 do not define or address the fiscal or environmental impacts to the City of Vernon or the State of California as a whole," concluded Olguin.
Editor's Note: Below is a sampling of the Speaker's statements over the past months:
Speaker John Pérez Statements about AB 46
Assembly Local Government Committee – April 13, 2011
- "These are legitimate questions with respect to jobs." "Nobody takes the issue of jobs more seriously than do I."
- (In response to the fear of job losses) "That fear is real. When you have an economic crisis like the one that we are seeing, any negative impact on jobs is amplified."
- "What then is the challenge for us? The challenge for us is that as we move this legislation through, to be informed by the issues raised. I've been working with many of the stakeholders, both business and labor, that have come forward today, to try to identify some of the key areas that we need to focus on."
- "We need to make sure that we maintain affordable power in the city of Vernon... It's incumbent upon us to make sure that we're able to maintain affordable power."
- "Providing the public safety services that have been addressed. It's incumbent on us as we move this legislation through to address that."
- "Land use and zoning designations. It is true; many of the businesses that currently operate in Vernon wouldn't be able to operate in other cities given the current zoning. So it's incumbent upon us to make sure we protect, on an ongoing basis, the zoning that allows those businesses to continue and thrive."
- "Retaining permitting and business license structures. Similarly, preserving an overall business friendly environment..."
- "We're working to address all those things."
Los Angeles City Council Meeting – March 1, 2011
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Janice Hahn: "Would you be willing to amend this bill so that it addresses, so that this will insure that the 50,000 jobs in Vernon are protected?"
Pérez: "Absolutely, we've already put forward language that's being drafted with respect to the land use issues that we've raised, and we're vetting a couple of different proposals with respect to some of the other elements we've raised, in particular, the stability of affordable power that's essential to the business model in the City of Vernon. We're absolutely committed to doing that."
LA Weekly
Headline: City of Vernon in Fight to Death with Assembly Speaker John Perez
- "In conversations with labor leaders, he has promised to amend the bill to protect jobs. He has not explained how."
Los Angeles Times
Move to disincorporate Vernon could drive business away
- "Perez said he had a plan to preserve the city's business-friendly climate that he would release in coming weeks."
Headline: Assembly votes to disincorporate Vernon
- "Perez responded to some concerns about his bill during Thursday's debate, reiterating his promise to add amendments that would maintain local zoning and land-use laws and preserve some benefits of the city's infrastructure, such as affordable utility rates. The amendments will ensure that the city remains 'a driving economic force,' he said."
Headline: L.A. City Council backs plan to dissolve Vernon's cityhood
- "Perez said that state and federal case law supported his legislation and argued that he could accomplish disincorporation without harming businesses. 'Nobody takes the issue of jobs more seriously than me,' he said."
Headline: Los Angeles City Council votes to support Vernon disincorporation bill
- "Perez said he would 'absolutely' agree to add such amendments to his bill, which we set to be considered this month by the Assembly's Local Government Committee."
Los Angeles Business Journal
Headline: Vernon Businesses Fight Disincorporation
- Perez said in the current issue of the Business Journal that "Perez intends to alter his bill to preserve some of Vernon's business friendly rules. However, he was not specific."
The Sacramento Bee
Headline: Embattled Southern California city of Vernon in a battle to survive
- "Perez has committed to find ways to assure land uses and electricity rates would not change."