BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 347|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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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
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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
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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.
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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,
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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
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