Opinion ID: 1151125
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: State Board of Equalization Plan

Text: The State Board of Equalization consists of four districts for the state, the ideal population of each of which is 7,440,005 persons. We received three plans for this board: one from the Governor's Independent Commission, one from the Assembly Republican Caucus and one from the State Board of Equalization itself. The Commission and Caucus plans each nested 10 Senate districts to form each State Board of Equalization district. The State Board of Equalization criticized these plans because they cut county lines unnecessarily and ignored the administrative districts of the board. Since the board has many administrative, adjudicatory and regulatory responsibilities (unlike the Legislature), observing county lines and administrative districts is important. The board submitted a plan which divided only three counties and three administrative districts. We agree with the rationale of the State Board of Equalization but found that we could draw a plan which also divided only three out of the eleven administrative districts but which divided only one county. [65] Further, our plan creates a minority influence district in Los Angeles County. The maximum population deviation in our plan is less than 1 percent. A computer-generated map showing the various districts proposed by us is set out as part of Appendix One of our report. The population of each proposed district is set out in Appendix Two. A listing of the counties, and for Los Angeles County, the census tracts contained in Districts 2 and 3, are set out in Appendix Three. Therefore, we recommend the plan we devised for the State Board of Equalization. [66]