BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
ELECTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Ben Allen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 958 Hearing Date: 4/5/16
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|Author: |Lara |
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|Version: |2/8/16 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Darren Chesin |
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Subject: County of Los Angeles Citizens Redistricting
Commission
DIGEST
This bill establishes a 14-member Citizens Redistricting
Commission in the County of Los Angeles, which would be charged
with adjusting the boundary lines of the districts of the Board
of Supervisors in accordance with specified criteria.
ANALYSIS
Existing law:
1)Requires the board of supervisors of each county, following
each decennial federal census, and using that census as a
basis, to adjust the boundaries of any or all of the
supervisorial districts of the county so that the districts
are as nearly equal in populations as may be and comply with
the applicable provisions of Section 2 of the federal Voting
Rights Act (VRA), as amended.
2)Permits a board of supervisors, when adjusting the boundaries
of supervisorial districts, to give consideration to the
following factors:
a) Topography;
b) Geography;
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c) Cohesiveness, contiguity, integrity, and compactness of
territory; and,
d) Communities of interests in the districts.
3)Requires a board of supervisors to hold at least one public
hearing on any proposal to adjust the boundaries of a
supervisorial district prior to the public hearing at which
the board votes to approve or defeat the proposal.
4)Provides, pursuant to the California Constitution, that
charter counties are subject to state statutes that relate to
redistricting seats of the counties' boards of supervisors.
5) Permits a county board of supervisors to appoint a committee
composed of residents of the county to study the matter of
changing the boundaries of the supervisorial districts but
provides that the recommendations of the committee are
advisory only unless otherwise permitted by state law.
6) Establishes a redistricting commission in San Diego County
and charges it with adjusting the boundaries of supervisorial
districts after each decennial federal census. The San Diego
County redistricting commission is comprised of five former
or retired state or federal judges who are residents and
voters in the county. The commission members are picked from
among qualified applicants through a random drawing.
This bill:
1) Establishes a 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission in
the County of Los Angeles, which would be charged with
adjusting the boundary lines of the districts of the Board of
Supervisors in accordance with specified criteria in the year
following the year in which the decennial federal census is
taken.
2) Requires that the commission be created no later than
December 31, 2020, and in each year ending in the number zero
thereafter.
3) States that the selection process is designed to produce a
commission that is independent from the influence of the
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board and reasonably representative of the county's
diversity.
4) Requires that the political party preferences of the
commission members, as shown on the members' most recent
affidavits of registration, shall be as proportional as
possible to the total number of voters who are registered
with each political party in the County of Los Angeles, as
determined by registration at the most recent statewide
election and that at least one commission member shall reside
in each of the eight service planning areas in the County of
Los Angeles.
5) Provides that each commission member shall meet all of the
following qualifications:
a) Be a resident of the County of Los Angeles.
b) Be a voter who has been continuously registered in the
County of Los Angeles with the same political party or
unaffiliated with a political party and who has not changed
political party affiliation for five or more years
immediately preceding the date of his or her appointment to
the commission.
c) Has voted in at least one of the last three statewide
elections immediately preceding his or her application to
be a member of the commission.
d) Possess experience that demonstrates analytical skills
relevant to the redistricting process and voting rights,
and possess an ability to comprehend and apply the
applicable state and federal legal requirements.
e) Possess experience that demonstrates an ability to be
impartial.
f) Possess experience that demonstrates an appreciation for
the diverse demographics and geography of the County of Los
Angeles.
1) Provides that within the 10 years immediately preceding the
date of application to the commission, neither the applicant,
nor an immediate family member of the applicant, may have
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done any of the following:
a) Been appointed to, elected to, or have been a candidate
for office at the local, state, or federal level
representing the County of Los Angeles, including as a
member of the board.
b) Served as an employee of, or paid consultant for, an
elected representative at the local, state, or federal
level representing the County of Los Angeles.
c) Served as an employee of, or paid consultant for, a
candidate for office at the local, state, or federal level
representing the County of Los Angeles.
d) Served as an officer, employee, or paid consultant of a
political party or as an appointed member of a political
party central committee.
e) Been a registered state or local lobbyist.
1) Provides that an interested person meeting the
aforementioned qualifications may submit an application to
the county elections official to be considered for membership
on the commission.
2) Requires the county elections official to review the
applications and eliminate applicants who do not meet the
specified qualifications. The county elections official must
then select 60 of the most qualified applicants, taking into
account the relevant requirements, and make public their
names for at least 30 days. The county elections official
may not communicate with a member of the board of
supervisors, or an agent for a member of the board, about any
matter related to the nomination process or applicants prior
to the publication of the list of the 60 most qualified
applicants. During this period the county elections official
may eliminate any of the previously selected applicants if
the official becomes aware that the applicant does not meet
the qualifications. The county elections official must then
create a subpool for each of the eight service planning areas
in the County of Los Angeles.
3) Requires, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the board, the
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Auditor-Controller of the County of Los Angeles shall conduct
a random drawing to select one commissioner from each of the
eight subpools established by the county elections official.
4) Requires the eight selected commissioners to review the
remaining names in the subpools of applicants and to appoint
six additional applicants to the commission. The six
appointees shall be chosen based on relevant experience,
analytical skills, and ability to be impartial, and to ensure
that the commission reflects the county's diversity,
including racial, ethnic, geographic, and gender diversity.
The eight commissioners shall also consider political party
preference, selecting applicants so that the political party
preference of the members of the commission are as
proportional as possible to that of the registered voters in
the county, however, formulas or specific ratios shall not be
applied for this purpose.
5) Provides that the term of office of each member of the
commission expires upon the appointment of the first member
of the succeeding commission.
6) Provides that nine members of the commission shall
constitute a quorum and that nine or more affirmative votes
is required for any official action.
7) Provides that the commission shall not retain a consultant
who would not be qualified as a commission applicant. For
this purpose, "consultant" means a person, whether or not
compensated, retained to advise the commission or a member
thereof regarding any aspect of the redistricting process.
8) Requires the commission to establish single-member
supervisorial districts for the board pursuant to a mapping
process using the following criteria as set forth in the
following order of priority:
a) Districts shall comply with the United States
Constitution and each district shall have reasonably equal
population with other districts for the board, except where
deviation is required to comply with the federal VRA or
allowable by law.
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b) Districts shall comply with the federal VRA.
c) Districts shall be geographically contiguous.
d) The geographic integrity of any city, county, city and
county, local neighborhood, or local community of interest
shall be respected in a manner that minimizes their
division to the extent possible without violating the above
requirements.
e) To the extent practicable, and where this does not
conflict with the aforementioned criteria, districts shall
be drawn to encourage geographical compactness such that
nearby areas of population are not bypassed for more
distant population.
1) Provides that the place of residence of any incumbent or
political candidate shall not be considered in the creation
of a map and that districts shall not be drawn for the
purpose of favoring or discriminating against an incumbent,
political candidate, or political party.
2) Requires the commission to comply with the Ralph M. Brown
Act.
3) Provides that, before the commission draws a draft map, the
commission shall conduct at least seven public hearings, to
take place over a period of no fewer than thirty days, with
at least one public hearing held in each supervisorial
district and that after the commission draws a draft map, the
commission shall do both of the following:
a) Post the map for public comment on the Internet Web site
of the County of Los Angeles.
b) Conduct at least two public hearings to take place over
a period of no fewer than thirty days.
1) Requires the commission to establish and make available to
the public a calendar of all public hearings and to post the
agenda for the public hearings and the draft map at least
seven days before the hearings.
2) Requires that the commission shall arrange for the live
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translation of their hearings in an applicable language if a
request for translation is made at least 24 hours before the
hearing. An "applicable language" means a language for which
the number of residents of the County of Los Angeles who are
members of a language minority is greater than or equal to 3
percent of the total voting age residents of the county.
3) Provides that the commission shall take steps to encourage
county residents to participate in the redistricting public
review process. These steps may include:
a) Providing information through media, social media, and
public service announcements.
b) Coordinating with community organizations.
c) Posting information on the Internet Web site of the
County of Los Angeles that explains the redistricting
process and includes a notice of each public hearing and
the procedures for testifying during a hearing or
submitting written testimony directly to the commission.
1) Requires the board of supervisors to take all steps
necessary to ensure that a complete and accurate
computerized database is available for redistricting, and
that procedures are in place to provide to the public ready
access to redistricting data and computer software
equivalent to what is available to the commission members.
2) Deems that all records of the commission relating to
redistricting, and all data considered by the commission in
drawing a draft map or the final map, are public records.
3) Requires the commission to adopt a redistricting plan and
to file the plan with the county elections official prior to
August 15 of the year following the year in which each
decennial federal census is taken. The plan shall be
effective 30 days after it is filed with the county
elections official and shall be subject to referendum in the
same manner as ordinances.
4) Requires the commission to issue, with the final map, a
report that explains the basis on which the commission made
its decisions in achieving compliance with the criteria
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described above.
5) Defines "immediate family member" for the purposes of this
bill as a spouse, child, in-law, parent, or sibling.
6) Defines "community of interest" as a contiguous population
which shares common social and economic interests that
should be included within a single district for purposes of
its effective and fair representation. Communities of
interest shall not include relationships with political
parties, incumbents, or political candidates.
BACKGROUND
California Counties Must Follow State Law Governing
Redistricting . A number of California cities have established
redistricting commissions to adjust city council districts
following each decennial census. In some cities, these
commissions are advisory, and only make recommendations to the
city council, but in other cities, the redistricting commission
has the authority to adopt a redistricting plan independent of
the city council. Charter cities are able to establish such
commissions because the state Constitution gives charter cities
broad authority over the conduct of city elections and over the
manner in which, method by which, times at which, and terms for
which municipal officers are elected.
General law cities and all counties, on the other hand, are not
granted the same level of authority over the conduct of their
elections, and in fact, the state Constitution explicitly
provides that "[c]harter counties are subject to statutes that
relate to apportioning population of governing body districts."
In light of this provision of the state Constitution, charter
counties are unable to provide for the creation of a
redistricting commission through an amendment to the county
charter unless statutory authority is provided to allow a county
to have such a commission.
The San Diego County Commission . SB 1331 (Kehoe, Ch. 508 of
2012), established an independent redistricting commission in
San Diego County to adjust the boundaries of supervisorial
districts after each decennial federal census. The bill was
requested by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors who
sought the change in state law necessary to create a commission
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comprised of retired judges. As mentioned above, because the
Elections Code controls and limits the redistricting process,
the County Board could not reformulate its redistricting process
unless the Legislature changed the code. Furthermore, because
the county board requested the bill, the state was not subject
to a reimbursable local mandate.
California Citizens Redistricting Commission . Proposition 11,
which was approved by the voters at the 2008 Statewide General
Election, created the Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC),
and gave it the responsibility for establishing district lines
for the Assembly, Senate, and Board of Equalization.
Proposition 11 also modified the criteria to be used when
drawing district lines. Proposition 20, which was approved by
the voters at the 2010 Statewide General Election, gave the CRC
the responsibility for establishing lines for California's
congressional districts, and made other changes to the
procedures and criteria to be used by the CRC. The CRC consists
of 14 registered voters, including five Democrats, five
Republicans, and four others, all of whom are chosen according
to procedures specified in Proposition 11.
What Is a Service Planning Area ? According to the County of Los
Angeles, a Service Planning Area is a specific geographic region
within the County. Due to the large size of the County (4,300
square miles), it has been divided into eight geographic areas
so the Department of Public Health can "develop and provide more
relevant public health and clinical services targeted to the
specific health needs of the residents in these different
areas."
COMMENTS
1)According to the author : SB 958 is a good government proposal
for the citizens of Los Angeles County. This bill seeks to
align the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors'
redistricting policy with the statewide movement toward
independent redistricting. San Diego, the second most
populous county in California, established an independent
redistricting commission for its Board therefore it is
possible for the largest county in California, Los Angeles, to
maximize public participation for its 10 million residents.
SB 958 requires district lines to be drawn by bipartisan groups
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and diverse representatives of the county. As Los Angeles is
one of the most geographically and ethnically diverse counties
in the state it is vital that the Board reflects its regional
diversity. SB 958 will also help to maintain communities of
interests, to ensure groups with similar socioeconomic
interests are not negatively impacted by redistricting. For
the purposes of fair representation, the political party
preferences of the 14 commission members, as shown on the
members' most recent registration affidavits, will be
proportional to the total number of registered voters.
Election districts drawn by citizens can increase the
supervisors' responsiveness to constituents. By requiring an
independent body to draw the Board's district lines, elections
would become more competitive, thereby increasing
accountability to Los Angeles citizens. Government entities
need to remain accountable to the public and SB 958 can aid in
achieving this goal.
Following each decennial federal census, county supervisorial
districts can be redrawn. In accordance with this law, SB
958 provides that the Board's independent redistricting
commission would go into effect December 31, 2020. This
provision would allow four years for public deliberation. The
public will also have the opportunity to review redistricting
maps and appointments. The geographic integrity of any city,
county, city and county, local neighborhood, or local
community of interest will also be respected.
The goal of SB 958 is to provide a similar a public process as
was provided by the Citizens Redistricting Commission.
2)Authority and Responsibility but No Ability ? SB 1331 (Kehoe,
Ch. 508 of 2012), which established the redistricting
commission for San Diego County, required the board of
supervisors to provide for reasonable staffing and logistical
support for the commission. Furthermore, Proposition 11
required the Governor and the Legislature to provide the state
redistricting commission with funding and adequate office
space. This bill contains no similar requirement.
3)Partisan Make Up . The legislation establishing the San Diego
County Redistricting Commission did not include a requirement
that its members be registered as preferring any specific
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political parties. Proposition 11, which established the
state's redistricting commission, requires that of its 14
members, five be registered as preferring the Democratic
Party, five be registered as preferring the Republican Party,
and four be registered as preferring other parties or having
no party preference. This bill requires the political party
preferences of the Los Angeles County redistricting commission
members to be as proportional as possible to the total number
of voters who are registered with each political party in the
County of Los Angeles, as determined by registration at the
most recent statewide election.
RELATED/PRIOR LEGISLATION
SB 1331 (Kehoe, Ch. 508 of 2012), established a redistricting
commission in San Diego County to adjust the boundaries of
supervisorial districts after each decennial federal census.
SB 1108 (Allen), which is also before this committee, would
authorize any county or city to establish a redistricting
commission that has the authority to adjust the boundaries of
the districts of the board of supervisors or the city council.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: None received
Oppose: None received
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