BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 278
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
278 (Roger Hernández)
As Amended August 11, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | |(June 3, 2015) |SENATE: |33-5 |(August 17, |
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(vote not relevant)
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|COMMITTEE VOTE: | 5-2 |(August 29, |RECOMMENDATION: |concur |
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(E. & R.)
Original Committee Reference: E. & R.
SUMMARY: Permits any city, regardless of population size, to
change the method of electing its governing board members from
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at-large to a by-district method of election without receiving
voter approval and provides that if voter approval is sought,
the proposed boundaries for the districts are not required to
appear on the ballot.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of the bill,
and instead:
1)Repeal the population limitation on a law that permits the
legislative body of a city with a population of fewer than
100,000 people to adopt an ordinance, without being required
to submit the ordinance to the voters for approval, that
requires the members of the legislative body to be elected by
districts, thereby giving all cities, regardless of population
the flexibility that is provided by that law.
2)Repeal a requirement that a city ordinance submitted to the
voters asking whether they want to adopt a by-district or
from-district method of election for members of the
legislative body must include the boundaries and number of
each such district. Require the legislative body to prepare a
proposed map describing the boundaries and numbers of the
legislative districts after the ordinance is passed, as
specified. Permit the legislative body to seek public input,
including accepting proposed maps submitted by the public.
Require the district boundaries to be effective beginning the
first election following approval by the legislative body for
which election consolidation deadlines have not passed, as
specified.
3)Require a legislative body that is establishing or adjusting
district boundaries pursuant to this bill to hold public
hearings on the boundaries, as specified by existing law.
4)Require the legislative body of a newly incorporated city that
has voted to elect members of the city council by district,
when establishing the boundaries of city council districts, to
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comply with applicable provisions of the federal Voting Rights
Act of 1965.
5)Make technical, nonsubstantive, and conforming changes.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill required general law cities
with a population of 100,000 or more, as specified, to elect
members of the city council by district.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: According to the author:
AB 278 advances a more fair, comprehensive and balanced
process to the potential adoption of district-based elections.
I have worked diligently to address all the issues raised by
the opposition to this bill over the last two years.
The bill accomplishes the following:
1) The bill broadens the applicability of SB 493 (Cannella)
[Chapter 735, Statutes of 2015] to allow all city councils,
regardless of the city's population size, to adopt the
district-based election method directly instead of going to
the voters to seek that change.
2) In the event a city council chooses not to adopt a
change in the election method and instead seek voter
approval, the approval of the district maps would occur
after the voters have approved changing to district-based
elections, not concurrently. This is similar to how the
map adoption process is envisioned to work under SB 493
which was approved last year.
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Until last year, any city that wished to move from at-large
elections to a district-based method of election generally
needed voter approval in order to enact such a change. SB 493
(Cannella), Chapter 735, Statutes of 2015, however, permitted a
city with a population of fewer than 100,000 people to change
the method of electing council members to a by-district method
of election without receiving voter approval if such a change
was made in furtherance of the purposes of the California Voting
Rights Act (CVRA). Any city with a population of 100,000 or
more still generally needs voter approval in order to change
from at-large elections to a district-based method of election.
This bill was substantially amended in the Senate and the
Assembly-approved provisions of this bill were deleted. As a
result, this bill was re-referred to the Assembly Elections and
Redistricting Committee pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2, and the
committee subsequently recommended that the Assembly concur in
the Senate amendments.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN:
0004983
AB 278
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