Local agency formation: annexation: City of Merced.

The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 provides the sole and exclusive authority and procedure for the initiation, conduct, and completion of changes of organization and reorganization for cities and districts. The act grants a local agency formation commission the power to review and approve a change of organization of a local agency, which includes an annexation into a city. The act generally requires that a territory to be annexed be contiguous to the city at the time the proposal is initiated. The act also requires each commission to develop and determine the sphere of influence of each city and special district within the county. The act defines sphere of influence, for purposes of these provisions, as a plan for the probable physical boundaries and service area of the local agency, as determined by the commission. This bill would authorize the annexation of territory comprising the main campus of the University of California, Merced, as specified, and the road strip, as defined, to the City of Merced, notwithstanding the requirement that the territory be contiguous with the city, if other conditions are met, including that the territory is within the city's sphere of influence. The bill would prohibit the commission from approving a subsequent annexation to the road strip pursuant to these provisions unless the territory proposed to be annexed is contiguous to the property comprising the main campus of the University of California, Merced or the boundaries of the City of Merced as it existed on January 1, 2021. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Merced.