BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 347| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 347 Author: Chang (R) Amended: 3/26/15 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 7-0, 7/8/15 AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Moorlach, Pavley ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/14/15 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Local agencies: city selection committees: County of Los Angeles SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill requires specified city council members to serve as the voting member of the Los Angeles County City Selection Committee (Committee) when a mayor is unable to attend a meeting. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Establishes, in any county in which two or more cities are incorporated, a city selection committee for the purpose of appointing city representatives to boards, commissions, and AB 347 Page 2 agencies as required by law. 2)Provides that the membership of each city selection committee consists of the mayor of each city within the county. 3)Provides that, when the mayor is unable to attend a meeting of the city selection committee, he or she shall designate another member of the city's legislative body to attend and vote at the meeting in the mayor's place. This bill: 1)Provides that, for the Committee, the following shall apply when the mayor is unable to attend a meeting of the Committee: a) The vice mayor or mayor pro tempore shall serve as the voting member and shall be entitled to one vote; and, b) In the absence of the mayor and the vice mayor or mayor pro tempore, the next ranking council member shall serve as the voting member and shall be entitled to one vote. The ranking council member shall be determined by seniority of service on the council. 2)Finds and declares that a special law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the challenges faced as a result of the current governance structure of Los Angeles County. Background The Committee is composed of the mayors of each of the 88 cities within Los Angeles County; 45 or more mayors must be present at the Committee's meetings to reach a quorum. Because mayors often get caught in traffic or cannot attend meetings for other reasons, the Committee has historically had trouble reaching a quorum. Even when an unavailable mayor designates an alternate AB 347 Page 3 to attend and vote at a Committee meeting in his or her place, the designated alternate is sometimes unable to attend. This situation has made it difficult for the Committee to function. The Brown Act specifically allows local legislative bodies to use teleconferencing instead of meeting in person, but the size of Los Angeles County and the number of mayors (or alternates) needed to reach a quorum makes it impractical for the Committee to hold teleconference meetings instead of meeting in person. Some Los Angeles County cities now propose changing state law to create a clear, statutorily defined line of succession in the event of a mayor's inability to attend the meetings of the Committee. Comments 1)Purpose of the bill. The Committee has been unable to consistently reach quorums to fill elections to regional boards and commissions. In some cases, this results in key appointments remaining vacant or unable to open for elections. Mayors and city council members in Los Angeles County face unique challenges including traffic, distance, notification, and time of meetings contributes to the quorum challenges. AB 347 offers some flexibility to meet that challenge. 2)Getting by. Existing law already requires an unavailable mayor to designate another member of the city's legislative body to attend and vote at a city selection committee meeting in the mayor's place. If the Committee schedules its meetings with advanced notice, and mayors have permanently designated alternates, it is unclear why the Committee would still have difficulty meeting its quorum requirements. Similarly, state law gives city selection committees the authority to formulate their own rules governing the time, place, and manner of their meetings. It is unclear that a change in state law is needed to allow the Committee to meet a quorum, when existing law permits the city selection committee to choose meeting locations, times, and formats most convenient for its members. AB 347 Page 4 3)Special legislation. The California Constitution prohibits special legislation when a general law can apply (Article IV, §16). AB 347 contains findings and declarations explaining the need for legislation that applies only to the Committee. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified7/10/15) California Contract Cities Association City of Avalon City of Bellflower City of Burbank City of Cerritos City of Claremont City of Diamond Bar City of Downey City of Lakewood City of La Mirada City of Lomita City of Malibu City of Norwalk City of Rosemead City of Santa Fe Springs City of Signal Hill City of South Pasadena City of Torrance City of Walnut City of Whittier Los Angeles County Division of the League of California Cities South Bay Cities Council of Governments OPPOSITION: (Verified7/10/15) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/14/15 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, AB 347 Page 5 Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Linder, Medina Prepared by:Toren Lewis / Gov. & Fin / (916) 651-4119 7/16/15 9:08:03 **** END ****