BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 684
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 11, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 684 (Block) - As Amended:  April 25, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:6-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill authorizes the governing board of a community college 
          district, in accordance with the California Voting Rights Act 
          (CVRA) and upon approval of the Board of Governors of the 
          California Community Colleges (CCC), to:

          1)Establish elections by trustee area, as prescribed, including 
            establishing the number of trustees, which shall be between 
            five and nine members.

          2)Established a top-two primary election, as prescribed.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Minor absorbable costs to the BOG to consider requests from 
            community college districts pursuant to the bill's provisions.

          2)Potential significant savings to individual districts and to 
            counties in avoiding the costs of elections seeking approval 
            to change from at-large to trustee-area representation.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  . 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. Since the enactment of the CVRA in 2002, a 
            number of local jurisdictions have converted or are in the 
            process of converting from an at-large method of election to 








                                                                  AB 684
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            district-based elections.

            Existing law permits the State Board of Education (SBE) to 
            waive all or part of any section of the Education Code, with 
            certain exceptions, upon request by the governing board of a 
            school district or county board of education.  Some school 
            districts that have sought to move from at-large elections to 
            district-based elections since the enactment of the CVRA have 
            applied for and received a waiver from the requirement that 
            the change from at-large to district elections be approved by 
            the voters of the district, the saving the cost of such an 
            election.

           2)Purpose  . This bill enacts a similar waiver process by the CCC 
            BOG for community college districts.   

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081