Bill Text: CA AB1227 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 1227

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Elections: County of Santa Clara.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-10-07 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 362, Statutes of 2023. [AB1227 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB1227-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly April 24, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 1227

Introduced by Assembly Member Low
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Lee)

February 16, 2023

An act to add Section 24206 to the Government Code, relating to elections.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 1227, as amended, Low. Elections: County of Santa Clara.

Under existing law, specified county officers are required to be elected by the voters in that county. Existing law generally requires the election to select county officers to be held with a statewide primary election, but if no candidate for a county office receives a majority of the votes cast for that office at the primary election, the 2 candidates who received the most votes advance to the ensuing statewide general election.

This bill would authorize the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Clara to adopt, and a voter of that county to propose by initiative, a proposal to elect county officers by ranked choice voting, as specified. If a proposal would elect an officer by ranked choice voting through a single election with no possibility of a runoff, the bill would authorize the county to hold that election at the first statewide general election following the statewide primary election at which the election otherwise would be held in accordance with existing law.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) To date, the Cities of Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, Palm Desert, and San Leandro, as well as the City and County of San Francisco, have successfully conducted elections using ranked choice voting.

(b) The City of Eureka amended its charter to use ranked choice voting, and is expected to use it in 2024.

(c) The voters in the City of Ojai have expressed their desire by way of an advisory measure to use ranked choice voting on the November 2024 ballot.

(d) The County of Santa Clara has indicated, both by a charter amendment adopted by a vote of its people and by a resolution passed by its board of supervisors, that it would like to use ranked choice voting in its elections.

(e) The state would benefit from learning more about ranked choice voting from charter counties that wish to use it.

SEC. 2.

Section 24206 is added to the Government Code, to read:

24206.

Notwithstanding any other law, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Clara may adopt, or a voter of that county may propose by initiative, a proposal to elect an officer of that county by ranked choice voting. The proposal shall specify which county officers shall be elected by this method and whether they shall be elected at large or by or from district, as applicable. Notwithstanding Section 1300 of the Elections Code or any other law, a proposal that provides for a ranked choice voting process to elect an officer through a single election with no possibility of a runoff may hold that election at the first statewide general election following the statewide primary election at which the election otherwise would be held in accordance with Section 1300 of the Elections Code.