SAN DIEGO -- Rural San Diegans inched a step closer to having a permanent voice on regional transportation issues Tuesday as county supervisors repeated their desire to have a second seat on the San Diego Association of Governments board.

Supervisors unanimously directed county Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard to send letters supporting the idea to the association of governments and to local legislative delegates.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, said by telephone from Sacramento that she had introduced a bill Friday calling for the additional seat. She said she hoped it would be passed by legislators relatively easily.

If approved by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the second seat would not increase the county's voting power on the powerful association of governments, which has become the region's transportation agency.

But it would guarantee that one county seat would always be filled by a supervisor representing the county's "backcountry" -- unincorporated, rural communities such as Fallbrook and Ramona -- that currently do not have consistent representation.

County officials have been calling for the extra seat for years, and formally requested the association to consider the idea in 2004. The 20-member association's board voted to support adding a second county seat last month.

The association holds the purse strings to all the cash -- federal, state and local dollars -- spent on transportation in the county. It has 20 board members representing 19 agencies: two representing the city of San Diego, and one each representing the county and the other 17 cities in San Diego County.

A legislative change gave the association more power in 2002, and since that time, it has taken the lead role in planning all transportation projects throughout the county.

The county of San Diego has had its single seat on the association's board since the association was created in 1966.

Traditionally, it has been filled by the chairperson on the county board of supervisors -- a position that now rotates annually among the five supervisors.

However, three of the county's five supervisorial districts are urban, and just two represent the county's rural backcountry in North County and East County.

Because of that, with the single county seat, rural backcountry residents don't have any real representation on the association board during three out of every five years.

North County Supervisor and current board Chairman Bill Horn said a second county seat would fix that, by making sure that the second seat is always filled by a rural supervisor.

"It gives us another voice," Horn said. "The unincorporated areas -- they will always have a seat on the SANDAG board."

Association spokesman Garry Bonelli said the association has a two-tiered voting system --- the first being a "head count" of each of the 19 agencies represented, and the second being a "weighted" percentage count based on population.

To pass, issues must be approved in both tiers: by at least 10 of the 19 agencies, and by at least 51 percent of the weighted population vote.

Interestingly, while adding a second seat would not increase the county's voting power -- it could water it down.

That's because, association officials said, the county's two representatives would not have to vote together. They could vote on opposite sides of an issue, and essentially cancel out the county's vote.

Bonelli said there has already been an occasion when the city of San Diego -- the only other jurisdiction with two seats on the association board -- has split its vote and essentially canceled out its voting power.

Meanwhile, some critics from backcountry communities have said they don't think adding a second seat to the association board would necessarily guarantee that their voices are heard.

For instance, a number of leaders in Ramona have already objected to the county's plans in its general plan update -- the guideline that will shape all future development in the unincorporated county, and which is still being developed.

Some of those leaders have started a campaign to turn Ramona into a city in order to break away from county representation.

Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.