BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1108| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 1108 Author: Allen (D), et al. Amended: 6/8/16 Vote: 21 SENATE ELECTIONS & C.A. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 4/5/16 AYES: Allen, Anderson, Hancock, Hertzberg, Liu SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 4/27/16 AYES: Hertzberg, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Pavley NO VOTE RECORDED: Nguyen, Moorlach SENATE FLOOR: 34-0, 5/12/16 AYES: Allen, Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, De León, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates, Cannella, Fuller, Gaines, Liu, Runner ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 62-14, 8/18/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Elections: state and local reapportionment SOURCE: California Common Cause DIGEST: This bill permits a county or a general law city to establish a commission charged with adjusting the boundaries of supervisorial districts or city council districts after each decennial federal census, subject to certain conditions. Assembly Amendments (1) define "family member" as a spouse, registered domestic partner, sibling, parent, child, or in-law; SB 1108 Page 2 (2) provide that, notwithstanding any other law, the local jurisdiction may prescribe the manner in which members are appointed to a commission provided they use an open application process; (3) prohibit an independent commission from drawing lines to favor an incumbent or political candidate; (4) provide that advisory commissions cannot have a family member of an elected official, their personal staff, or their campaign staff serve on the commission; (5) provide that a person is not eligible to serve on an independent commission if he or she has contributed $500 or more in a year to any candidate in the local jurisdiction; and (6) require at least three hearings prior to a final vote and the final map must be in print for seven days prior to adoption. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1) Requires the governing bodies of each city and county, following each decennial federal census, and using that census as a basis, to adjust the boundaries of any or all of the council districts and supervisorial districts 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 city council or county board of supervisors to appoint a committee composed of residents of the city or county to study the matter of changing the boundaries of the council or supervisorial districts but provides that the recommendations of the committee are advisory only unless otherwise permitted by state law. 3) 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. 4) 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 members SB 1108 Page 3 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) Permits a county or a general law city (hereinafter referred to as the "local jurisdiction"), by resolution or ordinance, to establish an independent redistricting commission (independent commission) that has the power to adopt the district boundaries of the legislative body. 2) Permits a local jurisdiction to decide how members are appointed to an independent commission, but requires the application process to be open to all eligible residents. 3) Prohibits an independent commission from being comprised entirely of members who are registered to vote with the same political party preference. 4) Prohibits a person from being appointed to an independent commission if that person or a family member has done any of the following in the preceding eight years: a) Been elected or appointed to, or a candidate for, elective office of the local jurisdiction; b) Served as an officer, employee, or paid consultant of a political party or of a campaign committee or a candidate for elective office of the local jurisdiction; c) Served as an elected or appointed member of a political party central committee; d) Served as a staff member of, consultant to, or contracted with, a currently-serving elected officer of the local jurisdiction; e) Been registered to lobby the local jurisdiction; or, f) Contributed $500 or more in a year to any candidate for an elective office of the local jurisdiction, provided SB 1108 Page 4 that the jurisdiction may adjust this amount to reflect inflation. 5) Permits the local jurisdiction to impose additional qualifications and restrictions for members of the independent commission. 6) Requires each member of an independent commission to be a designated employee for the purposes of the commission's conflict of interest code. 7) Prohibits a member, while serving on the independent commission, from endorsing, working for, volunteering for, or making a campaign contribution to, a candidate for elective office of the jurisdiction. 8) Prohibits a member, for 10 years following his or her appointment to an independent commission, from being a candidate for an elective office of the local jurisdiction. 9) Prohibits a member, for four years following his or her appointment to an independent commission, from doing any of the following: a) Accepting an appointment to an office of the local jurisdiction; b) Accepting employment as a staff member of, or consultant to, an elected official or candidate for elective office of the local jurisdiction; c) Receiving a non-competitively bid contract with the local jurisdiction; or, d) Registering as a lobbyist for the local jurisdiction. 10)Requires an independent commission to comply with applicable provisions of the Brown Act and the Public Records Act. 11)Requires an independent commission to adopt new boundaries within six months after the final population figures from the census have been released, but not later than November 1 of SB 1108 Page 5 the year following the year in which the census is taken. 12)Requires an independent commission to publish and make available to the public a map of proposed boundaries for at least seven days prior to adopting those boundaries. Requires the commission to hold at least three public hearings prior to the hearing at which the new boundaries are adopted. 13)Prohibits an independent commission from drawing districts for the purpose of favoring or discriminating against any incumbent or political candidate. 14)Prohibits any of the following individuals from serving on an advisory redistricting commission (advisory commission): a) An elected official of the jurisdiction; or, b) Family, staff, or paid campaign staff of an elected official of the jurisdiction. 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 some charter 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 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." SB 1108 Page 6 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, Chapter 508, Statutes 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 such a commission. 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 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. Comments 1)According to the author, existing law authorizes county boards of supervisors and city councils to appoint committees to study the matter of changing the boundaries of its supervisorial and council districts but expressly states that recommendations of the committees are advisory only. There is an exception however, for charter cities where these SB 1108 Page 7 redistricting commissions have 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. Charter counties, general law counties and general law cities, on the other hand, are not granted the same level of authority over the conduct of elections. Therefore, these jurisdictions are unable to provide for the creation of a redistricting commission that has the authority to adopt a redistricting plan. This bill authorizes all counties and cities to establish a commission, composed of residents of the county or city, to either adopt a redistricting plan themselves or recommend changes as currently permitted. Cities and counties that wish to establish independent citizen redistricting commissions should not be prevented from doing so by state law. This bill will not require any city or county to create such a commission, it merely grants them the authority to do so. Related/Prior Legislation SB 1331 (Kehoe, Chapter 508, Statutes of 2012) established a redistricting commission in San Diego County to adjust the boundaries of supervisorial districts after each decennial federal census. SB 958 (Lara, 2016), which was pending on the Assembly Floor at the time this analysis was written, establishes a 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. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No SB 1108 Page 8 SUPPORT: (Verified8/18/16) California Common Cause (source) California Forward Action Fund League of California Cities League of Women Voters of California OPPOSITION: (Verified8/18/16) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 62-14, 8/18/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon NOES: Travis Allen, Brough, Chávez, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Grove, Harper, Lackey, Maienschein, Mathis, Melendez, Patterson, Steinorth, Waldron NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Gallagher, Roger Hernández, Olsen Prepared by:Darren Chesin / E. & C.A. / (916) 651-4106 8/19/16 19:37:17 **** END **** SB 1108 Page 9