BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 493|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 493
Author: Cannella (R), et al.
Amended: 7/7/15
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/6/15
AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Moorlach,
Pavley
SENATE FLOOR: 29-3, 5/18/15
AYES: Beall, Block, Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines,
Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff,
Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell,
Monning, Moorlach, Nguyen, Pan, Roth, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
NOES: Anderson, Morrell, Stone
NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Bates, Berryhill, Hall, Nielsen,
Pavley, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 62-14, 9/4/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Elections in cities: by or from districts
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill permits a city that elects its city council
at-large to enact an ordinance switching its election method to
by-district without submitting the change to voters for
approval.
Assembly Amendments limit the bill's effect to cities with a
population of fewer than 100,000 people, and require ordinances
adopted pursuant to the bill to be accompanied by a declaration
that the change in election method is being made in furtherance
of the purposes of the California Voting Rights Act of 2001.
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ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Permits a general law city that elects its councilmembers
through at-large elections to provide for city council members
to be elected by districts or from districts. Such a change
shall occur only upon the approval of voters of a measure
submitted to them by the city council or placed on the ballot
through the initiative process.
2)Defines, for the purposes of 1), above, the following:
a) "By districts" to mean the election of members by voters
of the district alone; and,
b) "From districts" to mean the election of members who are
residents of the districts from which they are elected, but
who are elected by voters of the city as a whole.
1)Prohibits, pursuant to the California Voting Rights Act of
2001 (CVRA), an at-large method of election from being imposed
or applied in a political subdivision (including a city) in a
manner that impairs 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, as a result of the dilution or the
abridgement of the rights of voters who are members of a
protected class.
2)Provides that a violation of the CVRA may be established, if
it is shown that racially polarized voting occurs in elections
for members of the governing body of the political subdivision
or in elections incorporating other electoral choices by the
voters of the political subdivision.
3)Requires a court, upon finding a violation of the CVRA, to
implement appropriate remedies, including the imposition of
district-based elections, which are tailored to remedy the
violation.
4)Permits any voter who is a member of a protected class and who
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resides in a political subdivision where a violation of the
CVRA is alleged to file an action in the superior court of the
county in which the political subdivision is located.
This bill:
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 CVRA.
3)Provides that the population of a city shall be determined by
the most recent federal decennial census.
Background
The CVRA was enacted to address racial block voting in at-large
elections for local office in California, in which an at-large
method of election dilutes the voting rights of minority
communities if the majority usually votes for majority
candidates rather than for minority candidates. In such
situations, breaking up a jurisdiction into districts can result
in districts in which a minority community can elect the
candidate of its choice or otherwise have the power to influence
the outcome of an election. If a judge finds that a city's
at-large election method violates the CVRA, state law requires
the court to implement appropriate remedies, including the
imposition of district-based elections.
Over 130 local governments have switched from at-large to
district-based elections since the enactment of the CVRA in
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2001. 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. However,
submitting an ordinance to voters via the ballot initiative
process can be cumbersome and costly. Furthermore, there is no
guarantee that a city's voters will approve a proposed change,
no matter how proactive the city council.
Some officials now seek to remove the requirement in state law
that they must obtain voter approval before changing their
electoral system.
Comments
1)Purpose of the bill. Most California cities elect their city
councils through at-large elections. But, since the passage
of the CVRA, an increasing number of cities are opting to
switch to by-district elections. Numerous remaining cities
that use at-large election methods have been sued under the
CVRA by groups arguing that at-large elections prevent
minority groups from electing candidates that represent their
community or their interests. In all such cases, citizens
alleging that at-large elections violated the CVRA prevailed.
Reading the proverbial writing on the wall, cities with
at-large election methods want to avoid inevitable CVRA
lawsuits, but are also weary of the costly process of
submitting an ordinance to the voters for approval to switch
to by-district voting-which, ultimately, the voters might
reject. SB 493 allows cities with at-large elections to
switch to by-district elections, as recommended by many judges
in CVRA lawsuits, without having to first go through the
costly and uncertain process of voter approval.
2)Who decides? Current law empowers voters to choose the method
by which they elect their city council. SB 493 takes this
power away from the voters and give it to city councils.
3)Charter cities vs. general law cities. State law permits a
city to provide for its own governance through the adoption of
a charter by a majority vote of its electors voting on the
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question. Charter cities may provide for the method of city
elections in their city charters. Since SB 493 seeks only to
change the manner in which municipal officers are elected, the
provisions of this bill apply only to general law cities, and
not charter cities.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified9/8/15)
Advancement Project
City of Ceres
City of Chowchilla
City of Greenfield
City of Hesperia
City of Lodi
City of Modesto
City of Ontario
City of Rancho Cucamonga
City of Riverbank
City of Turlock
City of Woodland
Greater Merced Chamber of Commerce
Latino Community Roundtable of Stanislaus County
League of California Cities
League of California Cities, Central Valley Division
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
OPPOSITION: (Verified9/8/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 62-14, 9/4/15
AYES: Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon,
Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh,
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Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia,
Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine,
Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Olsen, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond,
Ting, Wagner, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NOES: Travis Allen, Baker, Brough, Chávez, Dahle, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Hadley, Harper, Mathis, Melendez, Obernolte,
Patterson, Waldron
NO VOTE RECORDED: Achadjian, Bigelow, Jones, Ridley-Thomas
Prepared by: Toren Lewis / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
9/8/15 11:10:11
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