BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 684
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 3, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 684 (Block) - As Amended: April 25, 2011
SUBJECT : Community college districts: trustee elections.
SUMMARY : Establishes a procedure for the governing board of a
community college district (CCD) to change election systems,
including moving from at-large elections to elections by trustee
area, without voter approval, subject to certain conditions.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Permits a CCD, in accordance with the provisions of this bill
and the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA), and upon adoption
by the governing board of a resolution in support and the
approval of the Board of Governors of the California Community
Colleges, to change elections systems as follows:
a) Permits the governing board of a CCD to change from
electing board members of the CCD at-large to electing
board members of the CCD by trustee-areas. Provides that
in establishing trustee areas, the territory of a district
shall be divided into trustee areas, and one member of the
governing board shall be elected from each trustee area.
Requires the governing board to set the initial boundaries
of each trustee area to reflect substantially equal
population in each district as enumerated in the most
recent decennial federal census. Requires, thereafter,
that the boundaries of trustee areas be adjusted pursuant
to existing law, and permits trustee areas to be abolished
or adjusted as otherwise provided in existing law.
b) Permits the governing board of a CCD to establish a
top-two primary election system whereby candidates for
election to the governing board of the CCD are nominated by
trustee area at a district primary election held on the
date of the statewide direct primary election. Provides
that the two candidates receiving the highest number of
votes within the trustee area shall be nominees for the
district general election for that trustee area, and that
the nominee who receives the majority of votes cast by the
voters of the trustee area in the district general election
shall be elected to represent that trustee area. Requires
AB 684
Page 2
the district general election to be held on the same date
as the statewide general election.
c) Permits the governing board of a CCD to determine the
number of trustees, provided that the board divides the
territory of the CCD into not fewer than five and not more
than nine trustee areas. Requires, if the number of
trustee areas is increased or decreased, that the governing
board establish new trustee areas, abolish existing trustee
areas, or adjust the boundaries of trustee areas, such that
the number of trustee areas is equal to the number of
governing board members. Provides that if the number of
members of the governing board is increased, the additional
members of the governing board shall be elected at the next
regular general district election of board members
occurring at least 123 days after the governing board
approved the increased number of members. Requires, prior
to the next district general election, that the governing
board divide by lot the additional trustee area positions
that are created so that the term of one-half of the board
members elected to those positions shall expire on the
first Friday in December following the next district
general election, and so that the term of the other board
members elected to fill the remainder of the additional
positions expire on the first Friday in December following
the second district general election succeeding their
election.
2)Provides that the provisions of this bill do not apply to a
CCD that has been authorized by statute to provide for its own
trustee elections.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires, in every community college district in which trustee
areas have not been established, that the governing board of
the district be comprised of either five or seven members
elected at-large from the district to serve a term of four
years.
2)Permits the county committee on school district organization,
upon petition of the governing board of any community college
district, to provide for the establishment, rearrangement, or
abolishment of trustee areas in the community college
district. Requires the petition to establish whether the
AB 684
Page 3
election of a trustee from a trustee area shall be by only the
registered electors of that trustee area, or by the registered
electors of the entire community college district. Requires
the resolution of the county committee approving a proposal to
establish or abolish trustee areas to be submitted to the
voters.
3)Prohibits, pursuant to the CVRA, an at-large method of
election from being imposed or applied in a political
subdivision in a manner that impairs the ability of a
protected class of voters to elect the candidate of its choice
or to influence the outcome of an election, as a result of the
dilution or the abridgement of the rights of voters who are
members of a protected class.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author, "Last year, the
U.S. Department of Commerce's Census Bureau conducted the
decennial census of the country's population. In addition to
congressional and state legislative redistricting, the census
marks the time for certain local government entities to
redistrict, including community college districts. Since the
last redistricting in 2001, there have been significant
changes to the law governing elections. The purpose of AB 684
is to bring community college districts into conformity with
the new requirements."
2)At-Large vs. Trustee Areas : As noted above, under existing
law, a community college district board can be organized so
that members are elected at-large or so that members are
elected by trustee areas. In districts that have trustee
areas, the district can be organized such that the registered
voters in the entire community college district vote for
trustees from each of the trustee areas, or the district can
be organized so that only the registered voters in a trustee
area vote for the trustees from that area. In either case,
candidates for a trustee area must reside in and be registered
to vote in that trustee area.
For any district that wishes to move from at-large elections to
a trustee area method of election, existing law requires the
voters of the district to approve the change. If the voters
AB 684
Page 4
reject the proposed change, the district must continue holding
elections using an at-large method of election.
3)California Voting Rights Act : SB 976 (Polanco), Chapter 129,
Statutes of 2002, enacted the CVRA to address racial block
voting in at-large elections for local office in California.
In areas where racial block voting occurs, an at-large method
of election can dilute the voting rights of minority
communities if the majority usually votes for majority
candidates rather than for minority candidates. In such
situations, breaking a jurisdiction up into districts can
result in districts in which a minority community can elect
the candidate of its choice or otherwise have the ability to
influence the outcome of an election. Accordingly, the CVRA
prohibits an at-large method of election from being imposed or
applied in a political subdivision in a manner that impairs
the ability of a protected class of voters to elect the
candidate of its choice or to influence the outcome of an
election, as a result of the dilution or the abridgement of
the rights of voters who are members of the protected class.
The CVRA specifically provided for a prevailing plaintiff party
to have the ability to recover attorney's fees and litigation
expenses to increase the likelihood that attorneys would be
willing to bring challenges under the law.
Since the enactment of the CVRA, a number of local jurisdictions
have converted or are in the process of converting from an
at-large method of election to district-based elections.
While some jurisdictions have done so in response to
litigation, other jurisdictions have begun the process of
changing election methods because they believe they would be
susceptible to a legal challenge under the CVRA, and they wish
to avoid the potential expense of litigation.
However, even if a local governmental body attempts to address
concerns about an at-large method of election by attempting to
move to a district-based method of election, that body could
nonetheless face a challenge under the CVRA if the change to a
district-based election method requires voter approval (as is
the case with community college districts) and the voters
reject the proposed change.
4)Education Code Waiver Procedure : Existing law permits the
State Board of Education (SBE) to waive all or part of any
AB 684
Page 5
section of the Education Code, with certain identified
exceptions, upon request by the governing board of a school
district or county board of education. The SBE generally is
required to approve any and all requests for waivers unless it
makes a finding that one of seven enumerated conditions
exists.
Some school districts that have sought to move from at-large
elections to district-based elections since the enactment of
the CVRA have applied to the SBE for a waiver, and have
received such a waiver, from the requirement that the change
from at-large to district elections be approved by the voters
of the district. Since 2009, the SBE has approved 20 waivers
from the requirement that the establishment of trustee areas
be approved by voters as required by the Education Code. One
of those waivers allowed the State Center Community College
District (SCCCD) to convert to trustee area elections without
voter approval; however, because the Education Code does not
explicitly allow community college districts to submit waiver
requests, the waiver actually was granted to the Fresno County
Board of Education on SCCCD's behalf.
Although the SBE has granted one waiver to allow a community
college district to convert from at-large to trustee area
elections without voter approval, community colleges typically
fall under the supervision of the Board of Governors of the
California Community Colleges. In light of this fact, it is
unclear whether it is appropriate for the SBE to be granting
waivers to County Boards of Education on behalf of community
college districts.
5)Arguments in Support : According to the Community College
League of California:
Under current law, many community college districts that
use at-large election systems have an ongoing obligation
for districts that maintain at-large elections systems to
evaluate whether demographic changes trigger non-compliance
with the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA). The law
requires agencies, including community colleges, to switch
to trustee-area elections and draw trustee-areas under the
CVRA, if it is likely to enable a protected class to elect
a member of that class or for the protected class to
inuence the outcome of trustee-area elections. Generally,
an election is needed to switch election systems?
AB 684
Page 6
�U]nder current law, there is a process for K-12 schools to
switch their election process to avoid the cost of an
election to be in compliance with CVRA by appealing to the
State Board of Education. AB 684 would authorize a similar
process for community college districts to appeal?to
the?California Community College Board of Governors. AB
684 allows signicant cost savings to be in compliance with
state law, but also provides state-level oversight and fair
hearing processes. The appeal procedure helps to avoid the
expense and uncertain outcome of an election on whether to
change its election process.
6)Related Legislation : AB 680 (Block), which is also being
heard in this committee today, would require members of the
governing board of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College
District to be elected by trustee areas, instead of at-large.
AB 1252 (Davis), which is pending in this committee, would
require the Los Angeles Community College District to elect
governing board members by trustee areas, instead of at-large.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Community College League of California
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094