BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 958
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Date of Hearing: June 15, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Shirley Weber, Chair
SB
958 (Lara and Hall) - As Amended June 8, 2016
SENATE VOTE: 26-11
SUBJECT: County of Los Angeles Citizens Redistricting
Commission.
SUMMARY: Establishes a Citizens Redistricting Commission
(commission) in Los Angeles County and charges it with adjusting
the boundaries of supervisorial districts after each decennial
federal census. Specifically, this bill:
1)Provides for the creation of the commission in Los Angeles
County, and tasks the commission with adjusting the boundary
lines of the County's supervisorial districts in the year
following the year in which the decennial federal census is
taken.
2)Requires the commission to be comprised of 14 members, and to
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
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commission that is independent from the influence of the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors (board) and reasonably
representative of the county's diversity.
4)Requires the political party preferences of commission
members, as shown on the members' most recent voter
registration affidavits, to be as proportional as possible to
the total number of voters who are registered with each
political party in Los Angeles County, as determined by
registration at the most recent statewide election. Provides
that the political party preferences of commission members are
not required to be exactly the same as the proportion of
political party preferences among the registered voters of the
county. Requires at least one commission member to reside in
each of the eight service planning areas (SPAs) in Los Angeles
County.
5)Requires each commission member to meet all of the following
qualifications:
a) Be a resident of, and a registered voter in, Los Angeles
County, who has been continuously registered in the County
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;
b) 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;
c) 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;
d) Possess experience that demonstrates an ability to be
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impartial; and,
e) Possess experience that demonstrates an appreciation for
the diverse demographics and geography of Los Angeles
County.
6)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, as defined,
may have 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 Los Angeles County, including as a member of
the board of supervisors;
b) Served as an employee of, or paid consultant for, an
elected representative at the local, state, or federal
level representing Los Angeles County;
c) Served as an employee of, or paid consultant for, a
candidate for office at the local, state, or federal level
representing Los Angeles County;
d) Served as an officer, employee, or paid consultant of a
political party or as an appointed member of a political
party central committee; or,
e) Been a registered state or local lobbyist.
7)Permits an interested person meeting the qualifications
detailed above to submit an application to the county
elections official to be considered for membership on the
commission. Requires the county elections official to review
the applications and eliminate applicants who do not meet the
qualifications detailed above.
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8)Requires the county elections official to select 60 of the
most qualified applicants, taking into account the relevant
requirements, and to make public their names for at least 30
days. Prohibits the county elections official from
communicating with a member of the board, or an agent for a
member of the board, about any matter related to the
nomination process or applicants before the publication of the
list of the 60 most qualified applicants. Permits the
elections official, during this period, to eliminate any of
the previously selected applicants if the official becomes
aware that the applicant does not meet the qualifications.
Requires the county elections official to create a subpool for
each of the eight SPAs in Los Angeles County.
9)Requires, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the board, the
Auditor-Controller of Los Angeles County to conduct a random
drawing to select one commissioner from each of the eight
subpools established by the county elections official.
10)Requires the eight selected commissioners to review the
remaining names in the subpools of applicants and to appoint
six additional applicants to the commission. Requires the six
appointees to 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, provided
that formulas or specific ratios are not applied for this
purpose. Requires the eight commissioners additionally to
consider political party preference, and to select applicants
so that the political party preferences of the members of the
commission are as proportional as possible to the registered
voters in the county, as detailed above.
11)Requires commission members to apply the requirements of this
bill in a manner that is impartial and that reinforces public
confidence in the integrity of the redistricting process.
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12)Provides that the term of office of each member of the
commission expires upon the appointment of the first member of
the succeeding commission.
13)Provides that nine members of the commission shall constitute
a quorum and that nine or more affirmative votes are required
for any official action.
14)Prohibits the commission from retaining a consultant who
would not be qualified as a commission applicant due to any of
the disqualifying criteria described above in 6). Provides,
for this purpose, that the term "consultant" means a person,
whether or not compensated, retained to advise the commission
or a commission member regarding any aspect of the
redistricting process.
15)Requires each commission member to be a designated employee
for the purposes of the conflict of interest code adopted by
Los Angeles County, as specified, thereby requiring members to
file statements of economic interests and to comply with
specified state laws regarding conflicts of interests and
limits on gifts and honoraria.
16)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) Requires districts to comply with the United States
Constitution and requires each district to have a
reasonably equal population with other districts for the
board, except where deviation is required to comply with
the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) or allowable by law;
b) Requires districts to comply with the federal VRA;
c) Requires districts to be geographically contiguous;
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d) Requires the geographic integrity of any city, local
neighborhood, or local community of interest, as defined,
to be respected in a manner that minimizes its division to
the extent possible without violating the above
requirements; and,
e) Requires, to the extent practicable, and where this does
not conflict with the higher-priority criteria detailed
above, districts to be drawn to encourage geographical
compactness such that nearby areas of population are not
bypassed for more distant areas of population.
17)Prohibits the place of residence of any incumbent or
political candidate from being considered in the creation of a
map, and prohibits districts from being drawn for the purpose
of favoring or discriminating against an incumbent, political
candidate, or political party.
18)Makes the redistricting commission subject to the Brown Act.
19)Requires the commission, prior to drawing a draft map, to
conduct at least seven public hearings, to take place over a
period of no fewer than 30 days, with at least one public
hearing held in each supervisorial district.
20)Requires the commission, after drawing a draft map, to do
both of the following:
a) Post the map for public comment on Los Angeles County's
Internet Web site; and,
b) Conduct at least two public hearings to take place over
a period of no fewer than thirty days.
21)Requires hearings to be scheduled at various times and days
of the week to accommodate a variety of work schedules and to
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reach as large an audience as possible.
22)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 at least seven days before the
hearings. Requires the agenda for a meeting conducted after
the commission has drawn a draft map to include a copy of that
map.
23)Requires the commission to arrange for the live translation
of their hearings in an applicable language if a request for
translation is made at least 24 hours before the hearing.
Provides that an "applicable language," for these purposes,
means a language for which the number of residents of Los
Angeles County who are members of a language minority is
greater than or equal to three percent of the total voting age
residents of the county.
24)Requires the commission to take steps to encourage county
residents to participate in the redistricting public review
process. Provides that these steps may include the following:
a) Providing information through media, social media, and
public service announcements;
b) Coordinating with community organizations; and,
c) Posting information on Los Angeles County's Internet Web
site 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.
25)Requires the board 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
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software equivalent to what is available to the commission
members.
26)Provides 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.
27)Requires the commission to adopt a redistricting plan and to
file the plan with the county elections official before August
15 of the year following the year in which each decennial
federal census is taken. Provides that the plan is effective
30 days after it is filed with the county elections official,
and is subject to referendum in the same manner as ordinances.
28)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
described above.
29)Prohibits a commission member from doing any of the following
for a period of five years beginning from the date of his or
her appointment to the commission:
a) Holding elective public office at the federal, state,
county, or city level in the state;
b) Holding an appointive federal, state, or local public
office;
c) Serving as paid staff for or a paid consultant to, the
Board of Equalization, Congress, the Legislature, or any
individual legislator; or,
d) Registering as a federal, state, or local lobbyist in
the state.
30)Defines "immediate family member," for the purposes of this
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bill, as a spouse, child, in-law, parent, or sibling.
31)Defines "community of interest," for the purposes of this
bill, as a contiguous population that shares common social and
economic interests that should be included within a single
district for purposes of its effective and fair
representation. Provides that communities of interest do not
include relationships with political parties, incumbents, or
political candidates.
32)Makes findings and declarations that a special law is
necessary because of the unique circumstances facing Los
Angeles County.
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 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;
c) Cohesiveness, contiguity, integrity, and compactness of
territory; and,
d) Communities of interests in the districts.
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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)Permits the board of supervisors of a county to appoint a
committee composed of residents of the county to study the
matter of changing the boundaries of supervisorial districts,
as specified. Provides that recommendations of the committee
are advisory only.
5)Establishes a procedure for a government of a county to adopt
a charter by a majority vote of its electors voting on the
question. Generally provides greater autonomy over county
affairs to counties that have adopted charters.
6)Provides that counties that have adopted charters are subject
to statutes that relate to apportioning population of
governing body districts.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee
analysis, this bill would likely result in a reimbursable state
mandate. Estimated costs to the State are unknown; but could
potentially reach the high hundreds of thousands of dollars
(General Fund) every ten years. As an upper bound, the statewide
Citizens Redistricting Commission incurred costs of $6 million
(General Fund) to draw the 2010 decennial boundaries for the
State's congressional delegation, State Senate, State Assembly,
and the Board of Equalization. State-mandated local program;
contains reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS:
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1)Purpose of the Bill: 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.
2)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 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.
3)County Redistricting Commissions and Previous Legislation: As
noted above, existing law permits a county to create an
advisory redistricting commission (described in state law as a
"committee" of residents of the jurisdiction), but state law
does not expressly permit local jurisdictions to create
commissions that have the authority to establish district
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boundaries. Instead, the authority to establish district
boundaries for a local jurisdiction generally is held by the
governing body of that jurisdiction. Charter cities are able
to establish redistricting commissions that have the authority
to establish district boundaries 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. As a result, a number of California
cities have established redistricting commissions to adjust
city council districts following each decennial census.
Charter counties, on the other hand, are not granted the same
level of authority over the conduct of county 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 that has the authority to establish district
boundaries unless statutory authority is provided to allow a
county to have such a commission.
In light of those restrictions, SB 1331 (Kehoe), Chapter 508,
Statutes of 2012, gave San Diego County the authority to
establish a redistricting commission, charged with adjusting
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 with the authority to
establish district boundaries. Because the San Diego County
Board of Supervisors requested that bill, it was not a
reimbursable state-mandated local program.
4)Service Planning Areas and Amendments: As detailed above,
this bill requires the commission it creates to contain at
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least one commission member who resides in each of the eight
SPAs in Los Angeles County. According to Los Angeles County,
an SPA 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." The eight
SPAs are Area 1: Antelope Valley; Area 2: San Fernando Valley;
Area 3: San Gabriel Valley; Area 4: Metro; Area 5: West; Area
6: South; Area 7: East; and Area 8: South Bay (including
Catalina Island).
Because the SPAs were designed to divide the county into
geographic regions, the populations of SPAs vary
significantly. According to Los Angeles County, the SPA with
the largest population-Area 2-has nearly seven times the
population of the SPA with the smallest population-Area 1.
This bill's requirement that the redistricting commission
contain at least one commission member who resides in each SPA
is designed to ensure that the commission is geographically
representative of the county as a whole. However, the fact
that SPAs have significantly different populations means that,
in practice, this geographic distribution requirement will
give a disproportionate level of representation on the
commission to sparsely populated areas of the county.
In response to this concern, the author has agreed to accept
amendments to require that the commission contain at least one
commissioner who resides in each of the existing supervisorial
districts. While the populations of the existing
supervisorial districts will vary somewhat, it is likely that
they will be much closer to each other than the populations of
SPAs. In order to ensure that the first eight commissioners
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are chosen at random from the pre-screened pool of 60
applicants, the Auditor-Controller of Los Angeles would be
required to conduct a random drawing to select one
commissioner from each of the existing supervisorial
districts, and would then be required to conduct a random
drawing from all of the remaining applicants, without respect
to supervisorial district, to select three additional
commissioners. As is the case with the existing version of
the bill, those eight commissioners would then choose the
remaining six members of the commission from the remaining
pool of applicants.
5)Funding and Staffing of the Commission and Amendments:
Proposition 11 required the Governor and the Legislature to
provide the CRC with funding and adequate office space. SB
1331 (Kehoe), Chapter 508, Statutes of 2012, which created a
redistricting commission for San Diego County, required the
board of supervisors to provide for reasonable staffing and
logistical support for the commission. This bill contains no
similar requirement for Los Angeles County to provide the
redistricting commission with funding, office space, or
staffing support. The absence of a requirement to provide
adequate support for the operation of the redistricting
commission could threaten the commission's independence. In
response to this concern, the author has agreed to accept an
amendment to require the board to provide reasonable funding
and staffing for the commission.
6)Partisan Make Up: The legislation establishing the San Diego
County redistricting commission did not include any
restrictions with respect to the partisan makeup of the
commission. The state's redistricting commission is required
to be made up of five members who are registered as preferring
the Democratic Party, five who are registered as preferring
the Republican Party, and four who are registered as
preferring other parties or having no party preference.
This bill requires the political party preferences of the Los
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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 Los Angeles County, as
determined by registration at the most recent statewide
election. According to current voter registration figures
from the Secretary of State, 51.78% of registered voters in
Los Angeles County are registered as Democrats, 24.08% are
registered as having No Party Preference, 19.61% are
registered as Republicans, and the remaining 4.53% of voters
are registered with another party or are registered with a
political body that is attempting to qualify as a political
party. While this bill provides that "the political party
preferences of the commission members are not required to be
exactly the same as the proportion of political party
preferences among the registered voters of the county," in
order to reflect these registration figures, a 14-member
redistricting commission might be expected to have between 7-8
Democrats, between 3-4 members registered as having No Party
Preference, between 2-3 Republicans, and between 0-1 members
registered with other political parties or bodies. The
ability for the commission to reflect those registration
figures could be limited, to some extent, based on the results
of the random drawing to select the first eight commissioners.
7)Post-Service Restrictions: As detailed above, this bill
prohibits commission members from engaging in certain conduct
for a period of time after their appointment to the
commission. Among other things, commissioners are prohibited
for a period of time from holding elective or appointive
public office (including state and federal office), from
serving as staff for certain elected officials (including
state and federal officials), or from registering as lobbyists
at the federal, state, or local level.
These post-service restrictions closely mirror restrictions that
apply to members of the CRC. The jurisdiction of the CRC,
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however, is much broader than that of the commission
established by this bill. The CRC is responsible for
establishing boundary lines for federal and state offices, so
post-service restrictions that limit the ability of members of
the CRC to serve in or interact with the state and federal
government are tailored to reflect the work that the CRC does.
By contrast, the commission established by this bill would
establish boundary lines only for Los Angeles County. The
committee may wish to consider whether the post-service
restrictions in this bill should be more narrowly tailored to
reflect the jurisdiction of the commission created by this
bill.
8)Technical Amendments: This bill requires the commission to
respect the geographic integrity of any "city and county" when
drawing district lines. Because the commission is drawing
lines for the supervisorial districts within a county,
however, this requirement is unnecessary. Accordingly, the
author has agreed to accept a technical amendment to delete
"city and county," from page 6, line 9 of the bill.
The most recent amendments to this bill added a sentence that is
duplicative of a provision that appears elsewhere in the bill.
Specifically, the sentence that appears on page 8, lines
11-13 of the bill is duplicative of a provision that appears
on page 5, lines 16-18 of the bill. The author has agreed to
an amendment to delete this duplicative language.
Finally, the most recent amendments to this bill contained a
drafting error with respect to the length of post-service
restrictions on commission members. While it was the author's
intent that commission members be prohibited from holding
elective public office for a period of five years after being
appointed to the commission, the author's intent was that the
other post-service restrictions would apply for three years
from the date of appointment. (Those restrictions limit
commissioners from being appointed to public office, from
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serving as staff of or as a paid consultant to specified
public officials, and from registering as a lobbyist.) To
correctly reflect the author's intent, the author is proposing
an amendment on page 8, line 17 of the bill to replace the
word "five" with "three."
9)Related Legislation: SB 1108 (B. Allen), which is also being
heard in this committee today, permits a city or a county to
establish a redistricting commission, subject to specified
conditions.
10)Double-Referral: This bill has been double-referred to the
Assembly Local Government Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Common Cause (if amended) (prior version)
League of Women Voters of California
Opposition
None on file.
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Analysis Prepared by:Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094