At least once every year (usually in April or May), SCAG convenes
the General Assembly to bring together the official
representatives of SCAG’s membership and help set the agency’s
course for the coming year.
The General Assembly is a forum where policy matters can be
identified and addressed. Any city or county representative may
propose a subject for study by the Association, provided that the
representative has notified the President of the proposal 45 days
in advance of the General Assembly meeting. Such a proposal
should be submitted in the form of a resolution to the SCAG
Regional Council. The President then appoints a Resolutions
Committee to consider each resolution and make recommendations
for action to the Regional Council, which is then forwarded to
the General Assembly for consideration. If a resolution is
presented directly to the General Assembly, a two-thirds vote is
required for its consideration. Amendments to SCAG’s Bylaws may
also be considered at the General Assembly. A Bylaws Committee is
appointed by the President to review amendments. Recommendations
are forwarded to the Regional Council for approval. The Regional
Council will then forward their recommendations to the General
Assembly for consideration. A quorum of the General Assembly
consists of official representation from one-third of the member
cities and one-third of the member counties.
Each member city appoints as its official delegate or
alternate a member of its city council who is not a Regional
Council representative, except that one of the official
representatives of the City of Los Angeles is always the mayor.
Counties are represented by either the chair or member of the
county board of supervisors from each member county. Any official
representative may call for special meetings of the General
Assembly upon written request of 15 member cities and three
member counties. Each member county and each member city has one
official representative and one alternate in the General
Assembly, except the City of Los Angeles, which has three
official representatives and three alternates due to its
population size. Member cities and counties must communicate the
names of their official representatives and alternates to SCAG
within 45 days before the annual meeting of the General Assembly.
In addition, members of the General Assembly also consider for
adoption SCAG’s General Fund budget for the next fiscal year.
Finally SCAG’s new President, Vice President and Second Vice
President are announced for the coming year.
Regional Council
SCAG’s policy direction is guided by the 86-member official
governing board known as the Regional Council. The Regional
Council is composed of 67 Districts that include an elected
representative of one or more cities of approximately equal
population levels that have a geographic community of interest
(except the City of Long Beach, which has two representatives).
Additionally, membership in SCAG’s Regional Council includes one
representative from each county Board of Supervisors (except the
County of Los Angeles, which has two representatives). SCAG’s
Regional Council also includes one representative of the Southern
California Native American Tribal Governments. Finally, all
members of the Los Angeles City Council are each considered
members of the SCAG Regional Council, and the Mayor of the City
of Los Angeles, serves as the Los Angeles City At-Large
Representative.
Executive/Administration Committee
The Regional Council established the Executive/Administration
Committee to deal with matters pertaining to human resources,
budgets, finance, operations, communications and any other matter
referred by the Regional Council. Membership on the
Executive/Administration Committee includes SCAG officers, policy
committee chairs and vice chairs, and one Tribal Government
representative if that person is not in a committee leadership
role. Additional Regional Councilmembers are appointed by the
President to make sure that every subregion has at least one
member on the committee.
The Executive/Administration Committee is responsible for
developing policy recommendations to the Regional Council on
administration, human resources, budgets, finance, operations,
communications, or any other matter specifically referred to the
Committee by the Regional Council.
Policy Committees and Task Forces
As a Regional Councilmember, you will have a voting seat on one
of SCAG’s three major policy committees:
- Community, Economic and Human Development Committee (CEHD)
- Energy and Environment Committee (EEC)
- Transportation Committee (TC)
Members of the Regional Council are appointed to one of the
policy committees for two-year terms. Most of the discussion and
debate on the “nuts and bolts” of a policy issue occurs in the
committees. Issues to be considered by the Regional Council must
come through one or more of the committees.
