Where do LAFCOs get the power to determine boundaries?
The boundary powers exercised by LAFCO have been delegated to them by the State legislature. The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides, The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. Each state reserved the power to determine how to organize its local governments. Article XI, Section 2(a) of the California Constitution requires the Legislature to prescribe [a] uniform procedure for city formation and provide for city powers. The Legislature has the complete authority to create, dissolve, or change the governing jurisdiction of special districts because they receive their powers only through State statutes. The Legislature prescribed a uniform process for boundary changes for both cities and special districts that is now embodied in the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 (California Government Code Section 56000 et seq.). This Act delegates the Legislatures
