Bill To Overhaul L.A. Metro Board By Artesia Lawmaker Passes Calif. Senate

LOS ANGELES, CA — A bill to overhaul the makeup of the Metro Board of Directors that is opposed by the board and the Los Angeles City Council was passed by the state Senate Thursday.

The bill, SB 268, was authored by Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, and passed by a vote of 22 to 12.

"Senate Bill 268 is a matter of social justice and fair representation. The MTA is an important part of daily life as many people get to work on public transit," Mendoza said.

"The MTA was created as state-legislated compromise to reorganize Los Angeles County public transit. What we need to do now is pass this bill and ensure that every corner of the county is adequately represented."

The Metro board consists of 13 voting members and a non-voting representative of the governor. All five members of the Board of Supervisors are members of the Metro board, along with the mayor of Los Angeles, three appointees of the mayor and a representative from each of the county's four sub- regions.

SB 268 would eliminate three members of the Board of Supervisors from the Metro board while adding three members from the county's sub-regions. It would also eliminate the Los Angeles mayor's three appointees in favor of five City Council members.

Mendoza has said the county's other 87 cities are underrepresented on the board and its projects often benefit Los Angeles at the expense of smaller cities.

The Metro board voted unanimously last week to oppose the bill, as did the L.A. City Council. The board oversees the agency's vast array of bus and rail lines and recently approved a $6.1 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Mendoza had been a strong opponent of Measure M, a voter-approved sales tax estimated to raise $120 billion for transportation initiatives, and Los Angeles City Councilman and Metro board member Paul Krekorian said he believed that was Mendoza's motivation behind the bill.

"This is childish. This is the legislative equivalent of taking the football and going home because you didn't get to play quarterback," Krekorian said last week.

The bill also calls for one of the county supervisors on the Metro board to come from the area that represents the largest unincorporated areas, making the argument that supervisors only represent those areas -- about 10 percent of the county -- although they are elected by all of the residents in their district, including by those that live in cities.

"To maintain that the supervisors only represent 10 percent of the county is nuts," said Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, who also is on the Metro board.

"That's an alternative fact sheet, it's not a fact sheet. This is just a bad piece of legislation."

The bill will now move to the state Assembly for a possible vote.

"It is incredibly important that the MTA Board represent the cities it serves appropriately," Mendoza said. "As the board is currently structured, it just doesn't represent the needs and interests of residents. Anything less than full and fair representation is unacceptable."

— City News Service, photo courtesy of Tony Mendoza's office.