BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1108|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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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;
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(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
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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
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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
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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."
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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
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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
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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
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