BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Dave Cox, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1668 HEARING: 5/5/10
AUTHOR: Knight FISCAL: No
VERSION: 3/25/10 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
CITY COUNCIL TERMS
I. City Council Vacancies . Elective city officers include
council members and, in some cities, mayors, clerks, and
treasurers. When a vacancy occurs, the city council has 30
days to either appoint someone to fill the position or call
a special election. City officials say that 30 days is not
long enough to find replacements for vacancies, sometimes
resulting in costly special elections. Cities want more
time to fill vacancies by appointment. Assembly Bill 1668
extends, from 30 to 60 days, the time for a city council to
fill a vacancy by either appointing a replacement or
calling a special election. AB 1668 also declares that a
special election to fill a city council vacancy often
results in a large and unnecessary financial burden.
II. New City Councils . The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act
spells out the terms of office for the first five city
council members of newly incorporated cities. For new city
councils elected at large, the three council members who
received the lowest number of votes hold office until the
first general municipal election after incorporation. The
other two members hold office until the second general
municipal election. After those elections, city council
members serve staggered four-year terms. Assembly Bill
1668 increases, from two to three, the number of new city
council members who hold office until the second general
municipal election after incorporation. AB 1668 reduces,
from three to two, the number of council members who hold
office until the first general municipal election.
Comments
1. Coping and continuity . AB 1668 solves two problems for
cities. First, faced with vacant elective offices, city
councils must either rush to find acceptable replacements
or pay for expensive elections. In bigger cities, a month
isn't enough time to recruit and review residents who can
serve as a city treasurer, mayor, or council member. The
AB 1668 -- 3/25/10 -- Page 2
alternative is to call a costly election and, in the
meantime, cope with the vacancy. Secondly, by assigning
short terms of offices to the majority of a new city's
council, current law fails to promote the political
continuity that helps new cities thrive. The bill improves
coping and continuity among city officials without overly
diminishing public participation in elections.
2. Once more unto the breach . AB 1668 is nearly identical
to AB 18 (Knight, 2009) which passed the Senate Local
Government Committee and the Senate Floor with no "no"
votes. When he vetoed last year's bill, Governor
Schwarzenegger said: I believe 30 days is a sufficient
amount of time for a city council to fill a vacant seat by
appointment or to call a special election. The veto
message didn't object to adjusting new city councils' terms
of office.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Elections & Redistricting Committee: 7-0
Assembly Local Government Committee: 9-0
Assembly Floor: 70-0
Support and Opposition (4/29/10)
Support : League of California Cities, California
Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions, City
Clerks Association of California, Cities of Santa Rosa and
Thousand Oaks.
Opposition : Unknown.