Bill Text: CA SCA8 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Counties: board of supervisors: redistricting.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-11-30 - Died on the inactive file. [SCA8 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SCA8-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SCA 8 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 30, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 4, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 9, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Mendoza
(Coauthors: Senators Beall, De León, Hueso, McGuire, and Runner)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Alejo, Gonzalez, and Lopez)
MAY 11, 2015
A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California
an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending Sections 1
and 4 of, and adding Section 4.5 to, Article XI thereof, relating to
counties.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCA 8, as amended, Mendoza. Counties: board of supervisors:
redistricting.
The California Constitution requires that a county charter provide
for a governing body of 5 or more members, elected (1) by district
or, (2) at large, or (3) at large with a requirement that they reside
in a district, and to provide for the compensation, terms, and
removal of members of the governing body. The California Constitution
also provides that charter counties are subject to statutes that
relate to apportioning population of governing body districts.
Existing law requires, following each decennial federal census and
using that census as a basis, the board of supervisors of a county to
adjust the boundaries of any or all of the supervisorial districts
of the county so that the districts are as nearly equal in population
as may be and comply with applicable provisions of federal law.
Existing law also requires a general law county to have a board of
supervisors consisting of 5 members, and requires, except as
provided, each member of the board of supervisors to be elected by
the district which the member represents.
This measure would, in a charter county that is found at a
decennial United States census, beginning with the 2020 United States
census, to have a population of more than 2,000,000,
3,000,000, require, and deem the county charter
to provide for, a governing body consisting of 7 or more members, not
to be thereafter reduced to fewer than 7 members even if, in a
future decennial United States census, the county is not a county
with a population of more than 2,000,000
3,000,000 . The measure would similarly provide that, in such a
county, the expenditures for the governing body and its staff may
not exceed, for any subsequent fiscal year after the release of the
census finding that the county has a population of more than
2,000,000, 3,000,000 the amount that was
allocated for the expenses of the governing body and its staff in the
county's adopted budget for the fiscal year in which that same
census was conducted, as adjusted each fiscal year thereafter for
changes in the California Consumer Price Index. This measure would
also extend these same requirements to the governing body of a
general law county that is found at a decennial United States census,
beginning with the 2020 United States census, to have a population
of more than 2,000,000 3,000,000 .
This measure would require, on and after January 1, 2021, a county
charter to provide for members to be elected by district with a
requirement that the member reside in a district, and would impose
that requirement on all general law counties.
As described above, the California Constitution requires that a
county charter provide for the compensation of members of the
governing body. The California Constitution also requires that, if a
county charter provides for the Legislature to prescribe the salary
of the governing body, the salary be prescribed by the governing body
by ordinance.
This bill would repeal that latter provision on January 1, 2021.
This measure would also make other technical, nonsubstantive
changes.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
WHEREAS, California's counties are governed by elected members of
a board of supervisors; and
WHEREAS, The number of members of the board of supervisors in most
counties has remained unchanged for more than a century despite
enormous increases in the county's population which, in some cases,
are greater than the population of individual states in the union;
and
WHEREAS, It is a well-recognized principle that residents are more
efficiently able to access their representatives for assistance for
services and to hold them better accountable when the ratio of
residents to each elected representative on a governing body is
smaller rather than larger; and
WHEREAS, It is important to restrain the costs of governance by
restricting the fiscal impact of any increase in the number of
members of any county's board of supervisors; and
WHEREAS, It is therefore the intent of the people, in adopting
this measure, to make all of the following changes with regard to the
county board of supervisors in each county having a population of
more than 2,000,000 3,000,000 at each
decennial United States census:
(a) To increase democratic representation by substantially
reducing the population in each supervisorial district;
(b) By establishing smaller supervisorial districts, to provide
greater opportunities for public participation in local government
that provide safety, health, transportation, and other vital
services;
(c) In order to control the size of government, reduce unnecessary
expenditures, and increase efficiency through smaller supervisorial
districts, to reduce the office budgets currently allocated for each
member of the board of supervisors; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2015-16 Regular Session
commencing on the first day of December 2014, two-thirds of the
membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of
the State of California, that the Constitution of the State be
amended as follows:
First-- That Section 1 of Article XI thereof is amended to read:
SEC. 1. (a) The State is divided into counties which are legal
subdivisions of the State. The Legislature shall prescribe uniform
procedure for county formation, consolidation, and boundary change.
Formation or consolidation requires approval by a majority of
electors voting on the question in each affected county. A boundary
change requires approval by the governing body of each affected
county. No county seat shall be removed unless two-thirds of the
qualified electors of the county, voting on the proposition at a
general election, shall vote in favor of such removal. A proposition
of removal shall not be submitted in the same county more than once
in four years.
(b) The Legislature shall provide for county powers, an elected
county sheriff, an elected district attorney, an elected assessor,
and an elected governing body in each county. Except as provided in
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 4 of this article, each
governing body shall prescribe by ordinance the compensation of its
members, but the ordinance prescribing such compensation shall be
subject to referendum. The Legislature or the governing body may
provide for other officers whose compensation shall be prescribed by
the governing body. The governing body shall provide for the number,
compensation, tenure, and appointment of employees.
Second-- That Section 4 of Article XI thereof is amended to read:
SEC. 4. (a) County charters shall provide for:
(1) Except as otherwise provided in Section 4.5, a governing body
of five or more members, elected by district, with a requirement that
the member reside in a district. Charter counties are subject to
statutes that relate to apportioning population of governing body
districts.
(2) The compensation, terms, and removal of members of the
governing body, subject to Section 4.5.
(3) An elected sheriff, an elected district attorney, an elected
assessor, other officers, their election or appointment,
compensation, terms and removal.
(4) The performance of functions required by statute.
(5) The powers and duties of governing bodies and all other county
officers, and for consolidation and segregation of county officers,
and for the manner of filling all vacancies occurring in those
offices.
(6) The fixing and regulation by governing bodies, by ordinance,
of the appointment and number of assistants, deputies, clerks,
attachés, and other persons to be employed, and for the prescribing
and regulating by such bodies of the powers, duties, qualifications,
and compensation of such persons, the times at which, and terms for
which they shall be appointed, and the manner of their appointment
and removal.
(7) Whenever any county has framed and adopted a charter, and the
charter has been approved by the Legislature as provided in this
section, the general laws adopted by the Legislature pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 1 of this article, shall, as to that
county, be superseded by that charter as to matters for which, under
this section it is competent to make provision in the charter, and
for which provision is made in the charter, except as otherwise
expressly provided in this section.
(8) Charter counties shall have all the powers that are provided
by this Constitution or by statute for counties.
(b) The changes made by the act adding this subdivision shall
apply on and after January 1, 2021.
Third-- That Section 4.5 is added to Article XI thereof, to read:
SEC. 4.5. (a) In a charter county that is found at a decennial
United States census, beginning with the 2020 United States census,
to have a population of more than 2,000,000,
3,000,000 there is required, and the county charter shall be
deemed to require, the following:
(1) The governing body shall consist of seven or more members,
elected by district, with a requirement that the member reside in a
district, and subject to statutes that relate to apportioning the
population of governing body districts. The number of members on the
governing body shall not thereafter be reduced to fewer than seven
members even if, in a future decennial United States census, the
county is not a county with a population of more than
2,000,000 3,000,000 .
(2) (A) The expenditures for the governing body and its staff
shall not exceed, for any subsequent fiscal year after the release of
the census finding a population of more than 2,000,000,
3,000,000, the amount that was allocated for the
expenses of the governing body and its staff in the county's adopted
budget for the fiscal year in which that same census was conducted,
as adjusted each fiscal year thereafter for changes in the California
Consumer Price Index.
(B) This expenditure limitation shall continue to apply even if,
in a future decennial United States census, the county is not a
county with a population of more than 2,000,000
3,000,000 .
(b) (1) Each general law county that is found at a decennial
United States census, beginning with the 2020 United States census,
to have a population of more than 2,000,000
3,000,000, shall have a governing body consisting of seven or
more members. Any county described in this subdivision shall be
subject to statutes that relate to apportioning the population of
governing body districts. The number of members on the governing body
shall not thereafter be reduced to fewer than seven members even if,
in a future decennial United States census, the county is not a
county with a population of more than 2,000,000
3,000,000 .
(2) (A) In a general law county that is found at a decennial
United States census, beginning with the 2020 United States census,
to have a population of more than 2,000,000,
3,000,000, the expenditures for the governing body and its
staff shall not exceed, for any subsequent fiscal year after the
release of the census finding a population of more than
2,000,000, 3,000,000, the amount that was
allocated for the expenses of the governing body and its staff in the
county's adopted budget for the fiscal year in which that same
census was conducted, as adjusted each fiscal year thereafter for
changes in the California Consumer Price Index.
(B) This expenditure limitation shall continue to apply even if,
in a future decennial United States census, the county is not a
county with a population of more than 2,000,000
3,000,000 .
(3) On and after January 1, 2021, the members of a governing body
of a general law county shall be elected by district, and the member
shall reside in that district.
