One major local business organization has called for postponing a state bill to dissolve the city of Vernon, while another business group appears poised to oppose the bill.

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce has sent a letter to bill author and Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, requesting that he set aside his bill until next year.

The Valley Industry and Commerce Association’s local government committee voted to oppose the bill last week; the association’s full board is slated to take up the bill next month.

The Perez bill, AB 46, would dissolve Vernon and possibly make the industrial community part of unincorporated Los Angeles County or allow a neighboring city to annex it. Perez has said dissolving Vernon is the only way to eliminate the corruption in the city because its small voting population, mostly city workers, makes it difficult to hold city government accountable.

Businesses in Vernon vigorously oppose the Perez bill, saying that dissolving Vernon would raise their utility and insurance rates and lower the quality of city services they now receive. Some businesses have threatened to move their operations out of Vernon is the bill passes.

Speaker Perez’s office has promised amendments to the bill that would maintain the low utility rates and preserve the current city services that businesses in Vernon currently enjoy. But Vernon business leaders say they are skeptical that Perez can deliver on these promises.

In an April 19 letter to Perez opposing the bill, Los Angeles chamber Chief Executive Gary Toebben said Vernon businesses have expressed “a great anxiety about their long-term viability if Vernon is disincorporated.”

Toebben requested that Perez set aside the bill until the 2012 legislative session to give business and city leaders in Vernon a chance to implement governance reforms.