BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Patricia Wiggins, Chair
BILL NO: AB 715 HEARING: 6/17/09
AUTHOR: Caballero FISCAL: No
VERSION: 6/10/09 CONSULTANT: Ho
CITY AND COUNTY ORDINANCES
Background and Existing Law
Within 15 days of a city ordinance's adoption, a city clerk
must publish the ordinance along with the names of the city
council members voting for and against the ordinance in a
general circulation newspaper that is printed, published,
and circulated in the city. If the city does not have a
general circulation newspaper, the city clerk must post the
ordinance in at least three public places in the city or
publish the ordinance in a general circulation newspaper
printed and published in the county and circulated in the
city.
Similarly, within 15 days of a county ordinance's adoption,
the county board of supervisors must publish the ordinance
along with the names of the board members voting for and
against the ordinance in a general circulation newspaper
that is printed and published in the county. If the county
does not have a general circulation newspaper, the board
must post the ordinance in the board's chambers for at
least one week.
These ordinance publishing requirements have been in place
for over 125 years for cities and over 110 years for
counties. City and county officials believe it is time for
the Legislature to update the requirements to reflect
changes in the ways Californians communicate and access
information.
Proposed Law
I. Posting on the Internet . Assembly Bill 715 authorizes
cities and counties to post, within 15 days of passage,
adopted ordinances on their official Internet websites in
lieu of publishing the ordinances in general circulation
newspapers.
AB 715 -- 6/10/09 -- Page 2
II. Mailed notices . Assembly Bill 715 requires a city or
county that chooses to post an adopted ordinance on its
website to also mail, within 15 days of passage, a notice
of adoption of the ordinance to each person who has sent in
a written request to receive such mailed notices. AB 715
requires written requests to expire at the end of each
calendar year and allows residents to renew their
subscriptions after January 1 of each year. The bill
further permits a local agency to charge a fee for mailing
the notice, but the fee must not exceed the cost of mailing
the notice.
III. Notice to newspaper readers . If a city or county
chooses to post an adopted ordinance on its website,
Assembly Bill 715 requires the city or county to publish a
legal advertisement in a general circulation newspaper for
a minimum of once a week for four successive weeks to
inform the public of the following:
When the city or county will begin posting adopted
ordinances solely on the Internet;
The website address where the ordinance will be
posted; and
Information on how residents can obtain mailed
notices of adopted ordinances.
Comments
1. A welcome alternative . Newspaper publication of
ordinances made sense when the newspaper was the most
practical form of communication between a local government
and its constituents. However, a recent study found that
70% of Californians use the Internet. As more people turn
to the Internet as their primary source of information,
newspaper publication requirements place unnecessary
financial burdens on cities and counties. The larger
general law cities pay close to $6,000 a year and at least
one county pays $10,000 a year to publish ordinances in the
newspapers. While these costs are small compared to their
overall budgets, local officials doubt these published
ordinances adequately serve the public because many
newspapers that have been adjudicated by the courts as
"newspapers of general circulation" are not necessarily the
most widely read newspapers in their communities. For
example, the City of Buena Park, which has a population of
83,000, reports that it must publish its notices in the
AB 715 -- 6/10/09 -- Page 3
Buena Park Independent, which only has 380 subscribers.
Furthermore, about half of the state's general law cities
post adopted ordinances in three public places because they
don't have general circulation newspapers available. In
those cities, electronic publication of ordinances will
greatly increase public access to new ordinances. By
giving cities and counties the option to publish their
ordinances electronically and mail notices of passage to
interested residents, AB 715 takes a step towards giving
local governments more flexibility in how they can
communicate government actions with their constituents. AB
715 is not a new mandate, just a new option for local
governments.
2. An inadequate alternative . Because the public has long
turned to general circulation newspapers to learn about
community news and events, it makes sense for these
newspapers to publish public notices and ordinances.
Newspaper publishers question whether electronic
publication of ordinances is an appropriate substitute for
publishing ordinances in the newspaper. Diminishing the
availability and visibility of those important legislative
actions undermines statewide open government goals. While
local government notices appear in newspapers that meet
certain quality and content standards, there are no
statewide standards for local government websites. There's
nothing preventing a city or county from posting ordinances
in hard-to-find areas of their websites. Opponents also
worry that AB 715 will lead to less civic participation
among populations with limited access to computers and the
Internet. A recent study found that in California, adults
with household incomes below $40,000 and adults age 55 and
older are much less likely to use the Internet than other
groups. While AB 715 tries to accommodate populations with
limited access to computers and the Internet by giving them
the option to receive mailed notices, the Committee may
wish to consider whether people will file written requests.
Electronic publication of ordinances may benefit some
populations, but may hurt others. If local officials want
to enhance public awareness and participation, then they
should post the ordinances online in addition to publishing
the ordinances.
3. Beyond counties . As the Legislature has revised
special districts' principal acts, it has authorized
several special districts, including community service
AB 715 -- 6/10/09 -- Page 4
districts, fire districts, cemetery districts, and
recreation and park districts, to follow counties'
procedures for adopting ordinances. By changing counties'
requirements for publishing adopted ordinances, AB 715 also
changes the ordinance publishing requirements for some
types of special districts.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Local Government Committee: 7-0
Assembly Floor: 75-0
AB 715 -- 6/10/09 -- Page 5
Support and Opposition (6/11/09)
Support : City Clerks Association of California, California
Association of Clerks and Election Officials, California
State Association of Counties, Lake County News, League of
California Cities; Cities of Albany, Antioch, Buena Park,
Calipatria, Canyon Lake, Carpinteria, Claremont, Clearlake,
Cloverdale, Concord, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Duarte,
Escondido, Fort Bragg, Grass Valley, Healdsburg, Hesperia,
Hollister, Huntington Beach, Huntington Park, Jackson,
Kerman, La Puente, Lathrop, Lemon Grove, Malibu, Menlo
Park, Merced, Mission Viejo, Mount Shasta, Murrieta,
Oakley, Ontario, Oxnard, Palm Desert, Perris, Pleasanton,
Port Hueneme, Poway, Rancho Cordova, Rancho Mirage,
Redding, Riverbank, Sacramento, San Bruno, San Dimas, San
Fernando, San Juan Capistrano, San Luis Obispo, Santa
Maria, Santa Rosa, Saratoga, Seaside, Selma, Signal Hill,
Solana Beach, Solvang, Tehachapi, Temecula, Town of Portola
Valley, Tulare, Upland, Waterford, Westminster, Williams;
Counties of Orange, Santa Clara.
Opposition : California Newspaper Publishers Association,
Antelope Valley Newspapers Inc., Black Voice News, Blue
Pacific News, Culver City News, Gardena Valley News, Herald
Publications Inc., Los Angeles Newspaper Group, Mattos
Newspaper Inc., Mountain Democrat, OCNN Newspapers,
Press-Enterprise, Salinas Californian, San Diego
Neighborhood Newspapers, Santa Monica Daily Press, Sonoma
Index-Tribune, Sonoma West Publishers Inc., Star-News,
Tahoe Daily Tribune, Ukiah Group Publisher; Darlene
Dukelow-Burton, Ellisa May, Eric Parmater, Gary Lendennie.