Local Agency Formation Commission
A Local Agency Formation Commission (or LAFCO) is one of several decision making government entities in California with the responsibily to decide issues pertaining to city and county (non-incorporated) lands, including "spheres of influence," and issues about the annexation of county lands into a city. A sphere of influence, in this context, is a plan for the probable physical boundaries and service area of a local agency.
Local Agency Formation Commissions were established in each California county except San Francisco by the California State Legislature in 1963. LAFCOs' current legal authority and mandate are defined by the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Act of 2000 (Government Code Section 56000 et seq.) (Note: In 2001, San Francisco formed a LAFCO. There are now LAFCOs in all 58 of California's counties.)
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 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.
Under the agency, no community within an incorporated city has ever been granted cityship. 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 2000's, which was denied. No detachments from a city have been successful in the state since 1947.