BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 493
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
493 (Cannella)
As Amended July 7, 2015
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 29-3
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Elections |5-0 |Ridley-Thomas, Grove, | |
| | |Gatto, Mullin, Perea | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Local |8-0 |Maienschein, | |
|Government | |Gonzalez, Alejo, | |
| | |Chiu, Cooley, Linder, | |
| | |Low, Mullin | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Permits 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.
Specifically, this bill:
SB 493
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1)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 members of the legislative body to be elected in
one of the following ways:
a) By districts, in five, seven, or nine districts; or,
b) By districts in four, six, or eight districts, with a
mayor who is elected citywide.
2)Requires an ordinance adopted pursuant to this bill to include
a declaration that the change in the method of electing
members of the legislative body is being made in furtherance
of the purposes of the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA).
3)Provides, for the purposes of this bill, that the population
of a city shall be determined by the most recent federal
decennial census.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "Since 2003, California
cities using at-large elections methods have become subject to
lawsuits asserting violations of the California Voting Rights
Act and demanding by-district elections be implemented. For a
city facing such a suit, the options are limited - they can
either [1] submit an ordinance making this change to the voters
for approval, which is expensive, slow, and not guaranteed to
win approval, or [2] accept the lawsuit, which they are bound to
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lose, costing taxpayer money in legal fees. SB 493 proposes to
save cities this time and money by permitting them to enact an
ordinance switching their election method to by-district without
submitting it for voter approval."
Under existing law, a city can be organized so that members of
the city council are elected at-large or are elected using
districts. In cities that have districts, the city can be
organized such that the registered voters in the entire city
vote for councilmembers from each of the districts (known as
"from-district" elections), or the city can be organized so that
only the registered voters in a district vote in the election to
choose the councilmember from that area (known as "by-district"
elections). In either case, a candidate for the city council
must reside in the district in which he or she is running.
For any city that wishes to move from at-large elections to a
district-based method of election, existing law requires the
voters of the city to approve the change. If the voters reject
the proposed change, the city must continue holding elections
using an at-large method of election.
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
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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.
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. The
State Board of Education (SBE) and the Board of Governors (BOG)
of the California Community Colleges, however, can waive the
voter-approval requirement for school districts and community
college districts, respectively. The SBE and the BOG have
granted approximately 130 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.
Unlike school districts and community college districts, no
formal process exists for cities to transition from at-large to
district-based elections without receiving voter approval. (A
few cities have transitioned from at-large to district-based
elections without receiving voter approval as a part of
settlement agreements to lawsuits brought under the CVRA.) This
bill would allow cities to transition to district-based
elections without receiving voter approval, which could allow
cities that potentially face liability under the CVRA to
proactively change the method of electing city council members.
AB 278 (Roger Hernández) of the current legislative session,
which is pending in the Senate Elections and Constitutional
Amendments Committee, requires general law cities with a
population of 100,000 or more, as specified, to elect members of
the city council by district. AB 278 was approved by the
Assembly on a 43-32 vote.
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Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN:
0001255