BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
ELECTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Ben Allen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 350 Hearing Date: 6/21/16
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|Author: |Alejo |
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|Version: |6/1/16 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Frances Tibon Estoista |
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Subject: District-based municipal elections: preapproval
hearings.
DIGEST
This bill requires a political subdivision that changes to, or
establishes, district-based elections to hold public hearings
before and after drawing a preliminary map or maps of the
proposed district boundaries as specified.
ANALYSIS
Existing law:
1)Requires a political subdivision that changes from an at-large
method of election to a district-based election to hold at
least two public hearings on a proposal to establish the
district boundaries of the political subdivision prior to a
public hearing at which the governing body of the political
subdivision votes to approve or defeat the proposal.
2)Applies to, but is not limited to, a proposal that is required
due to a court-imposed change from an at-large method of
election to a district-based election.
3)Provides the following terms have the following meanings:
a) At-large method of election" means any of the following
methods of electing members to the governing body of a
political subdivision:
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i) One in which the voters of the entire jurisdiction
elect the members to the governing body.
ii) One required to reside within given areas of
the jurisdiction and the voters of the entire
jurisdiction elect the members to the governing body.
iii) One which combines at-large elections with
district-based elections.
b) "District-based elections" means a method of electing
members to the governing body of a political subdivision in
which the candidate must reside within an election district
that is a divisible part of the political subdivision and
is elected only by voters residing within that election
district.
c) "Political subdivision" means a geographic area of
representation created for the provision of government
services, including, but not limited to, a general law
city, general law county, charter city, charter county,
charter city and county, a school district, community
college district, or other district organized pursuant to
state law.
This bill:
1) Requires a political subdivision that changes from an
at-large method of election to a district-based election, or
that establishes district-based elections, do all of the
following before a public hearing at which the governing body
of the political subdivision votes to approve or defeat a
proposal to establish the district boundaries of the
political subdivision:
a) Before drawing a draft map or maps of the proposed
boundaries of the districts, the political subdivision
shall hold at least two public hearings over a period of no
more than thirty days, at which the public is invited to
provide input regarding the composition of the districts.
b) After all draft maps are drawn, the political
subdivision shall release at least one draft map and, if
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members of the governing body of a political subdivision
will be elected in their districts at different times to
provide for staggered terms of office, the potential
sequence of the elections. The political subdivision shall
also hold at least two additional hearings over a period of
no more than 45 days, at which the public is invited to
provide input regarding the content of the draft map or
maps and the proposed sequence of elections, if applicable.
2) Provides that in determining the final sequence of the
district elections conducted in a political subdivision in
which members of the governing body will be elected at
different times to provide for staggered terms of office, the
governing body shall give special consideration to the
purposes of the California Voting Rights Act of 2001(CVRA),
and shall take into account the preferences expressed by
members of the districts.
3) This section applies to, but is not limited to, a proposal
that is required due to a court-imposed change from an
at-large method of election to a district-based election.
4) Makes conforming changes to specified terms and their
meanings in existing law.
BACKGROUND
California Voting Rights Act of 2001 : SB 976 (Polanco, Chapter
129, Statutes of 2002), enacted the CVRA to address racial block
voting in at-large elections for local office in California. In
areas where racial block voting occurs, an at-large method of
election can dilute the voting rights of minority communities if
the majority typically votes to support candidates that differ
from the candidates who are preferred by minority communities.
In such situations, breaking a jurisdiction up into districts
can result in districts in which a minority community can elect
the candidate of its choice or otherwise have the ability to
influence the outcome of an election. Accordingly, the CVRA
prohibits an at-large method of election from being imposed or
applied in a political subdivision in a manner that impairs the
ability of a protected class of voters to elect the candidate of
its choice or to influence the outcome of an election, as a
result of the dilution or the abridgement of the rights of
voters who are members of the protected class.
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Prior to the enactment of the CVRA, concerns about racial block
voting led to the consideration of a number of bills that sought
to prohibit at-large voting in certain political subdivisions
(for instance, AB 2 (Chacon, of the 1989-90 regular session); AB
1002 (Chacon, of the 1991-92 regular session); AB 2482 (Baca, of
the 1993-94 regular session); and AB 172 (Firebaugh, of the
1999-2000 regular session) all proposed to prohibit at-large
elections in school districts that met certain criteria;
additionally, AB 8 (Cardenas) and AB 1328 (Cardenas, both of the
1999-2000 regular session), sought to eliminate the at-large
election system within the Los Angeles Community College
District). None of these bills became law-in many cases the
bills were vetoed, while in other cases, the bills failed to
reach the Governor's desk. For those bills that were vetoed,
the veto messages typically stated that the decision to create
single-member districts was best made at the local level, and
not by the state.
The CVRA followed these unsuccessful efforts; rather than
prohibiting at-large elections in certain political
subdivisions, the CVRA instead established a policy that an
at-large method of election could not be imposed in situations
where it could be demonstrated that such a policy had the effect
of impairing the ability of a protected class of voters to elect
a candidate of its choice or its ability to influence the
outcome of an election. The CVRA specifically provided for a
prevailing plaintiff party to have the ability to recover
attorney's fees and litigation expenses to increase the
likelihood that attorneys would be willing to bring challenges
under the law.
The first case brought under the CVRA was filed in 2004, and the
jurisdiction that was the target of that case - the City of
Modesto - challenged the constitutionality of the law.
Ultimately, the City of Modesto appealed that case all the way
to the United States Supreme Court, which rejected the city's
appeal in October 2007. The legal uncertainty surrounding the
CVRA may have limited the impacts of that law in the first five
years after its passage.
Since the case in Modesto was resolved, however, many local
jurisdictions have converted or are in the process of converting
from an at-large method of election to district-based elections
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due to the CVRA. Generally, local government bodies must
receive voter approval to move from an at-large method of
election to a district-based method of election for selecting
governing board members, though the State Board of Education
(SBE) and the Board of Governors (BOG) of the California
Community Colleges have the authority to waive the
voter-approval requirement for school districts and community
college districts, respectively. In all, the SBE and the BOG
have combined to grant nearly 120 requests for waivers from the
voter-approval requirement for school districts and community
college districts that have sought to move to district-based
elections for board members due to concerns about potential
liability under the CVRA. According to information compiled by
the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay
Area, at least a dozen other local jurisdictions statewide have
transitioned to electing governing board members by districts as
a result of settlements to lawsuits brought under the CVRA. In
all, approximately 130 local government bodies have transitioned
from at-large to district-based elections since the enactment of
the CVRA. While some jurisdictions did so in response to
litigation or threats of litigation, other jurisdictions
proactively changed election methods because they believed they
could be susceptible to a legal challenge under the CVRA, and
they wished to avoid the potential expense of litigation.
COMMENTS
1) According to the author : Last year, the City of Anaheim
began its transition from at-large city council elections to
district-based elections after a lawsuit by the American
Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and Latino
activists in 2012. In November 2014, the people of Anaheim
approved two ballot measures that would effect this
transition. The first approved district maps provided for
two Latino plurality districts and one majority Latino
district.
In November of 2015, the Anaheim City Council scheduled the
elections for the two Latino plurality district for 2016, but
scheduled the elections for the only Latino majority district
for 2018. The scheduling of the only Latino majority
district in a midterm election year could have the effect of
putting the elections for a district whose population
consists of a majority of a protected class during a cycle in
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which turnout is traditionally decreased.
This decision created an outrage amongst the Latino community
in the city, and forced Anaheim to schedule the majority
Latino district for 2016 before facing another lawsuit
violating the state and Federal Voting Right Act.
Nothing in existing law would stop another city from
following Anaheim's example in scheduling its staggered city
council districts in a manner that would dilute and suppress
the vote of a protected class in violation of the state
Voting Rights Act.
AB 350 will require local governments that are transitioning
from at-large to district-based elections under a court order
to hold at least two public hearing before drawing a draft
map and two public hearings after the one or more drafts maps
are drawn.
RELATED/PRIOR LEGISLATION
AB 278 (R. Hernandez), permits any city, regardless of
population size, to change the method of electing its governing
board members from 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. AB 2389
(Ridley-Thomas), permits a special district to change the method
of electing its governing board members from at-large to a
by-district method of election without receiving voter approval.
Both bills are scheduled for hearing on June 29 in Senate
Governance and Finance Committee.
AB 1440 (Campos, Ch. 873, Statutes of 2014), requires political
subdivisions that change from an at-large method of election to
a district-based election to hold public hearings, and requires
special districts to hold a public hearing before adjusting the
boundaries of a division.
AB 2715 (R. Hernandez), would have required cities with a
population of 100,000 or more to elect city council members by
district, instead of at-large. The bill was held in Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
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PRIOR ACTION
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|Assembly Floor: |50 - 25 |
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|Assembly Judiciary Committee: | 7 - 3 |
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|Assembly Elections and Redistricting | 4 - 2 |
|Committee: | |
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POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: American Civil Liberties Union
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Oppose: None received
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