BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1795|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1795
Author: Alejo (D)
Amended: 6/24/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 5-2, 6/18/14
AYES: Wolk, Beall, DeSaulnier, Hernandez, Liu
NOES: Knight, Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 47-22, 5/19/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Cities: city council: vacancy
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill allows a resigning city council member, in
a city that elects city council members by or from districts, to
cast a vote on the appointment of a successor if his/her
resignation will go into effect upon the appointment of a
successor.
ANALYSIS : The California Constitution allows cities to adopt
charters that give local voters and elected officials control
over city elections, including the manner, the method, the
times, and the terms municipal officers are elected or
appointed. California has 121 charter cities and 361 general
law cities. General law cities must follow state law.
State law allows public officials to be elected by all of the
voters of the jurisdiction through at-large elections or from
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political subdivisions through district-based elections. State
law sets out the criteria for determining when public offices
become vacant, including death, absence without leave, removal
from office, felony convictions, and resignation. Under state
law, when a vacancy occurs in a city council for a general law
city, the council has 60 days from the commencement of the
vacancy to either appoint someone to fill the position or call a
special election. A person appointed or elected to fill a
vacancy holds office for the unexpired term of the former
incumbent.
Existing law is silent on whether a resigning councilmember may
cast a vote on his/her successor if the vacancy is filled via
appointment. Some legislators want to clarify that it is lawful
for a resigning city councilmember to cast a vote on the
appointment of his/her successor in a city that has
district-based elections.
This bill:
1.Allows a resigning city council member, in a city that elects
city council members by or from districts, to cast a vote on
the appointment of a successor if his/her resignation will go
into effect upon the appointment of a successor.
2.Provides that the office of the city council member becomes
vacant upon the delivery of a letter of resignation by the
resigning city council member to the city clerk.
3.Prohibits a city council member from casting a vote for a
family member or any other person with whom the city council
member has a relationship that may create a potential conflict
of interest.
4.Prohibits a city council member who elects to cast a vote for
the appointment of his/her successor, from the following
activities for two years after the appointment of a successor:
Advocating on any measure or issue coming before the
city council in which the city council member may have a
personal benefit;
Entering into a contract of any kind with the city or a
city vendor;
Accepting a position of employment with the city or a
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city vendor; and,
Applying for a permit that is subject to the approval of
the city council.
1.Prohibits any city council member who is resigning from the
city council due to an accusation of, or conviction for,
corruption or criminal behavior, or who is subject to a recall
election, from casting a vote for his/her successor.
Comments
In Martinez et al. v. City of Watsonville (2011), the Superior
Court ruled that it was lawful for a resigning City
Councilmember to participate in the vote on the appointment of
the successor who will fill that vacancy. Specifically, the
court ruled that "public policy favors ensuring a city council
district's representation by allowing the resigning
councilmember to vote in the appointment of the district's next
representative." Existing law remains silent on whether a
resigning city council member may cast a vote on his/her
successor. This bill allows a resigning councilmember to
protect the interests of residents in his/her district by
casting a vote on the appointment of a successor.
Martinez et al. v. City of Watsonville is now pending before the
Sixth District Court of Appeal. The appellate court will decide
whether the office of city councilmember can qualify as "vacant"
while at the same time the resigning incumbent casts a vote to
appoint his/her own successor.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/25/14)
League of United Latin American Citizens
Pajaro Valley Cesar Chavez Democratic Club
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/25/14)
Watsonville Pilots Association
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "The
California Government Code specifies what occurrences constitute
a vacancy in public office. Among the list of occurrences is
resignation. Additionally, in the event that a vacancy occurs
on a city council, the Government Code specifies that the city
council may choose to call a special election or fill the
vacancy by appointment. However, special elections are often
uneconomical and current statute does not specify whether or not
the resigning council member may cast a vote in the appointment
of his or her successor.
"In the case of Martinez et al. v. City of Watsonville, CV
169473, Sup. Ct. Santa Cruz (2011), it was decided that public
policy favors ensuring a city council district's representation
by allowing the resigning councilmember to vote in the
appointment of the district's next representative. While the
language of current statute remains silent on this issue,
general law cities that elect their councilmembers through
district elections would benefit greatly from a clarification.
"California has 482 cities - with 361 of those being general law
cities. Moreover, an increasing number of those general law
cities are moving towards district elections. This bill
clarifies that a resigning councilmember may represent his or
her district by casting a vote on the appointment of a
successor. This bill will not apply to cities whose charter
addresses this issue."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Watsonville Pilots Association
notes that, "Most of California's airports are city and county
managed, and that requires local entities to be good stewards of
these vital transportation facilities. Unfortunately AB 1795
fails to promote good local government but instead leads to the
opposite: manipulation, cronyism, and the promotion of the
agendas of special interest groups."
They further state that AB 1795 was introduced "with the intent
of establishing in law this ruling that a resigning member of a
city council can stay in office long enough to choose his
replacement. However, this lawsuit is currently pending a
decision at an appeals court? Since this decision is still
pending, the Legislature should let the Appeals Court rule
before interfering in a pending court case.
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"AB 1795 would produce unintended consequences, such as possible
additional lawsuits as a result of a council's poor policy
decisions instigated by behind the scenes special interests. In
Watsonville this has added at least $2 million for legal and
other costs, a waste of taxpayer money. Better local government
comes from residents/taxpayers' interests coming first.
"Detrimental unintended consequences of representatives
appointed by cliques is deterioration of infrastructure caused
by biased council priority decisions. This results in higher
charges for services, such as water rates and tenant rate
increases. Council representation determined on a vote by the
people results in better and more efficient infrastructure
maintenance, including streets and water distribution
facilities. For the airport, this would result in better
airport runways, taxiways, ramps and hangars/tie-downs for
airplanes."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 47-22, 5/19/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Bocanegra, Bonta, Bradford,
Brown, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Dahle,
Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Frazier, Garcia, Gomez, Gray,
Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Olsen,
Perea, John A. P�rez, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Waldron,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NOES: Allen, Bigelow, Buchanan, Ch�vez, Conway, Dababneh,
Donnelly, Fox, Beth Gaines, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman,
Harkey, Jones, Logue, Patterson, Quirk-Silva, Ting, Wagner,
Weber, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bloom, Bonilla, Gonzalez, Gorell, Linder,
Mansoor, Melendez, Nazarian, Nestande, Pan, Vacancy
AB:nl 6/25/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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