Opinion: California counties need governance reform
By Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee
Dan Walters
State Sen. Bob Hertzberg puts it succinctly, albeit accurately: “58 counties in California are accidents of history.”
Hertzberg, a Los Angeles Democrat, uttered his comment last month during a pithy, if sparsely attended, legislative hearing into the shortcomings of county governments.
As California’s population expanded in the late 19th century, it was divided, and redivided into 58 counties, then the state’s fundamental local governments.
