Growth concerns and debates over governance are not new to California. With each growth spurt, demand for government services has increased, as has the criticism that poor planning resulted in inefficient delivery of these public services. In the late 1990s, faced with California's latest growth spurt, and a series of voter-adopted initiatives that diminished the independence of local governments and constrained their ability to raise funds, state officials again began focusing on local agency boundaries and the effects of rapid growth. The result was a 16-month reexamination of the policies, practices, and statutes affecting the organization and boundaries of California's local agencies. This article examines that process and the statutory changes that resulted from it.