COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW AND UPDATE OF LAFCO POLICIES

The purpose of the comprehensive review and update of the current LAFCO policies is to: 

• Better enable LAFCO to meet its legislative mandate,
• Make the policies consistent with recent changes to the CKH Act,
• Better document current/historic practices, and
• Provide better guidance to affected agencies, the public, and potential applicants; and increase clarity and transparency of LAFCO’s policies and expectations.

The project is divided into two phases (Phase 1 and Phase 2).

Phase 1 - Completed (12/04/2024) 

On December 4, 2024, LAFCO completed the first phase of the Comprehensive Review and Update of LAFCO Policies which focused on reviewing and updating, as necessary, the key policies that apply to processing typical LAFCO applications. 

Phase 2 - Underway

On April 4, 2025, LAFCO approved a workplan for the second phase of the Comprehensive Review and Update of LAFCO Policies. This phase focuses on reviewing and updating, as needed, LAFCO’s remaining policies — including the service review policies, indemnification policy, incorporation policies (used less frequently), and policies and procedures related to administrative functions. The following are the proposed policies at this time:

• Service Review Policies (Chapter 10)
• Policies and Procedures for Processing Proposals Affecting More than One County (Chapter 11)
• Indemnification Policy (Chapter 12)
• Records Retention Policy and Schedule (Chapter X)

Proposed updates to LAFCO’s other remaining policies will be presented at upcoming LAFCO meetings (e.g. October 6, 2025, and December 3, 2025) for the Commission’s consideration and potential adoption.

The proposed revisions to Chapter 10: Service Review Policies resulted in a substantial reformatting, reordering, and rewriting of these current policies. As such, a tracked change version of the current Service Review Policies would have resulted in a document that is difficult to read and review. Instead, a set of documents have been prepared for Chapter 10: Service Review Policies as follows:

• Proposed policies
• Reference table showing the proposed policies in relation to the current policies and the reason(s) for the proposed revisions
• Corresponding current policies

Only minor reformatting and less substantial text revisions are proposed for the following policies:

• Chapter 11: Policies and Procedures for Processing Proposals Affecting More than One County
• Chapter 12: LAFCO Indemnification Policy
• Chapter X: Records Retention Policy and Schedule

Therefore, only a tracked change version of each of these current policies has been prepared for the Commission’s review and potential adoption.

The first section (10.1) is a new introduction which is largely based on the “background” section of the current policies but also includes additional language on the history of the LAFCO’s service review requirement. 
Subsection 10.8.4 includes new language outlining Santa Clara LAFCO’s key steps in conducting a service review. 

Subsections 10.8.4(b) and (k) include new language explaining Santa Clara LAFCO’s public outreach and community engagement process for service reviews.

Section 10.9 is a new section added to explain Santa Clara LAFCO’s process for encouraging and monitoring implementation of service review recommendations, based on current and historical LAFCO practice.

The current “Indemnification Policy” has been edited, reformatted, and reorganized as the proposed “Chapter 12: Indemnification Policy.” LAFCO Counsel has reviewed the current policy and recommended these specific changes to be consistent with State law.