Editing Vernon, California (section)

=== Disincorporation legislation ===
Vernon has dealt with the idea of disincorporation after city government corruption was discovered. In 2011, legislation was being considered to move to disincorporate the city. If this had taken effect, Vernon would be the third incorporated place in California to be disbanded in the past forty years, after [[Cabazon, California|Cabazon]] in 1972 and [[Hornitos, California|Hornitos]] in 1973.<ref name="Embattled">{{cite web|url=https://www.joplinglobe.com/news/embattled-california-city-of-vernon-in-a-battle-to-survive/article_2e283b5d-4765-5a9a-8e3f-b34ea778cbe8.html|title=Embattled California city of Vernon in a battle to survive|date=March 2, 2011|access-date=August 25, 2021|work=The Joplin Globe}}</ref> [[California State Assembly]]man [[John Pérez]] submitted a bill to the California legislature which would have disincorporated Vernon as a city.<ref>''[[The Economist]]'', "[http://www.economist.com/node/18651464 Small-town corruption: Business paradise or den of thieves?]", May 7, 2011, p. 34.</ref> The allegations of rampant corruption prompted the state Assembly to approve Pérez's proposed legislation, AB46, to disincorporate cities with fewer than 150 residents.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} Vernon is the only city that would have been affected by the bill.<ref name="sacbee.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/21/3491092/dan-walters-tiny-vernon-sits-on.html|title=Dan Walters: Tiny Vernon sits on a pile of money|work=Sacramento Bee|date=March 21, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205200008/http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/21/3491092/dan-walters-tiny-vernon-sits-on.html |archive-date=February 5, 2012}}</ref>

According to an editorial in the April 26, 2011, edition of the ''Long Beach Press-Telegram,'' support to maintain Vernon's city status came from two powerful groups that were rarely allied: The business community (including the California, Los Angeles, and Vernon chambers of commerce) and the labor community (including the Los Angeles Federation of Labor and the Teamsters) joined in the battle against Sacramento. Both groups acknowledged that Vernon needed a comprehensive political housecleaning, but both maintained its right to cityhood. Gloria Molina, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which has voted in support of disincorporating Vernon, stated: It is a "company town masquerading as a city."<ref name="press">{{Cite news |url=http://www.presstelegram.com/opinions/ci_17933189 |title=Respect for a city's autonomy|work=Press-Telegram|access-date=April 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324082250/http://www.presstelegram.com/opinions/ci_17933189 |archive-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> "The city has been a facade for some personal gain issues. The residents are employees of the city or major companies and consequently are controlled."<ref name="NYTimes1">{{cite news|author=Adam Nagourney|date=March 1, 2011|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/us/02vernon.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1|title=Plan Would Erase All-Business Town|work=The New York Times}}</ref> If the bill becomes law, Los Angeles County could and most certainly would absorb Vernon.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

The bill had passed in the Assembly on a bipartisan vote of 58–7.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/04/28/state-close-to-dissolving-cityhood-of-vernon/ |title=State Close To Dissolving Cityhood of Vernon|publisher=CBS Los Angeles|date=April 28, 2011 |access-date=March 21, 2013}}</ref>

In the last few weeks of the legislative session of summer 2011, a team of attorneys and lobbyists from Vernon were trying to kill the bill that would disincorporate the city when state Senator [[Kevin de Leon]] (D-Los Angeles) came to them with a creative and unconventional offer.<ref name="millions">{{cite news |author=Allen, Sam |date=December 13, 2011 |title=Vernon survived at a price; Legislator helped quash a bill to disband the city in return for $60-million deal for surrounding cities |work=Los Angeles Times |page=A.1|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/2534338861.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+13%2C+2011&author=Sam+Allen&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.1&desc=Vernon+survived+at+a+price%3B+Legislator+helped+quash+a+bill+to+disband+the+city+in+return+for+%2460-million+deal+for+surrounding+cities.|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131190727/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/2534338861.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+13,+2011&author=Sam+Allen&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.1&desc=Vernon+survived+at+a+price;+Legislator+helped+quash+a+bill+to+disband+the+city+in+return+for+$60-million+deal+for+surrounding+cities.|archive-date=January 31, 2013}}</ref> De Leon, who had earlier supported disbanding Vernon, said he would help to defeat the legislation if Vernon would accept a proposed list of government reforms and set aside $60&nbsp;million in order to fund community projects in the small, working-class cities that surround Vernon.<ref name="millions" /> Vernon agreed to the offer, and de Leon then proceeded to support the groups fighting disincorporation. City officials in nearby Huntington Park, which stood to receive some of Vernon's grant money, also reversed their support to the City of Vernon.<ref name="millions" /> On August 29, the state Senate rejected the bill to disband Vernon.<ref name="LATimesBlog">{{cite news|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/08/senate-votes-down-controversial-plan-to-disband-city-of-vernon.html |work=Los Angeles Times |title=State Senate rejects controversial plan to disband city of Vernon [Updated]|department=L.A. Now |date=August 29, 2011}}</ref>

The Vernon City Council unanimously passed salary limits and other wide-ranging reforms on May 26, 2011, as the tiny Los Angeles suburb fought efforts to eliminate its cityhood. The council approved an amended package that cut the salaries of council members from $70,000 to $25,000 a year, but not beginning until the end of their current terms. Other officials, including the police chief, also saw their salaries trimmed. Department heads' salaries were capped at $267,000. Previously, some city officials allegedly made more than $1&nbsp;million to govern the city. The council also authorized benefit reductions for officials, established a city housing commission, and voted to place a proposal on the city ballot that would change the city charter and limit council members to two, five-year terms. The city owns nearly all residential housing in town and there had been concerns that its officials were ''de facto'' landlords of the voters.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

The reforms took the city of Vernon further toward a more open, transparent and inclusive governance structure," MacFarlane said. "The business community will have a role to play, as will representatives of labor, and those are two key constituencies."{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} On August 2, 2011, former state attorney general [[John Van de Kamp]], hired by the city to do an independent review of its policies, released a report that found "no significant fault" in Vernon's compliance with the Political Reform Act, conflict of interest policies, the Brown Act, or the Public Records Act.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210113221/http://egpnews.com/2011/08/vernon-must-tackle-housing-issues-says-ethics-advisor/|url=http://egpnews.com/2011/08/vernon-must-tackle-housing-issues-says-ethics-advisor/|title=Vernon Must Tackle Housing & Finance Issues, Says Ethics Advisor|date=August 4, 2011|archive-date=December 10, 2018|publisher=EPGNews}}</ref>