Article 1. Findings And Declarations Of Policy of California Government Code >> Division 1. >> Title 5. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 5. >> Article 1.

The Legislature finds and declares that the County of Sacramento, due to the small number of incorporated cities within the county, the large unincorporated urban area of the county, the comparative compactness and physical uniformity of the county, and the absence of competing municipal interests, is uniquely suited for a program of local government reorganization to be voted on by the electorate of the county. The Legislature further finds and declares that the County of Sacramento contains over 127 separate governmental entities, including special districts, which often perform duplicatory or specialized functions and which proliferate taxing and spending agencies of government, and diffuse responsibility for programs and actions in response to urban problems of the county.

It is further found and declared that local government must be responsive and its elected officials readily accountable to the needs of the people; it must be visible and representative in order to permit greater participation in governmental affairs by the public; and elected and appointed officials should have more clearly defined areas of responsibility and authority, so that the people may have more success in seeking action and redress from their government.

It is further found and declared that in order to strengthen and make more efficient and responsive the overall administrative process of local government, administrative and executive authority in Sacramento County should be clearly defined and responsibility established under a single general purpose government, subject to approval of the electorate.

The Legislature finds that a general statute cannot be made applicable to this matter because of the facts and circumstances peculiar to the local governmental jurisdictions within the County of Sacramento. Therefore, the provisions of this chapter shall be applicable only to the County of Sacramento and the incorporated cities and special districts within the County of Sacramento, and are intended to implement, for the County of Sacramento and the cities and special districts within the county, the provisions of Article XI of the California Constitution providing for consolidation of a county with cities within the county.