BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 684
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 684 (Block)
As Amended August 23, 2011
2/3 vote. Urgency
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |72-3 |(May 19, 2011) |SENATE: |34-3 |(August 30, |
| | | | | |2011) |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: E. & R.
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. Requires members of the governing
board of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District (GCCCD)
to be elected by trustee area. Specifically, this bill :
1)Permits a CCD, in accordance with 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 (BOG) of the
California Community Colleges, to change elections systems as
follows:
a) Permits a CCD to change from electing board members at-large
to electing members by trustee-areas. Requires one member to
be elected from each trustee area. Requires the governing
board to set the boundaries of each trustee area to reflect
substantially equal population in each district;
b) Permits a CCD to establish a top-two primary election
system, with elections held on the same date as statewide
elections; and,
c) Permits the governing board of a CCD to divide the territory
of the CCD into not fewer than five and not more than nine
trustee areas.
2)Provides that this bill does not apply to a CCD that has been
authorized by statute to provide for its own trustee elections.
3)Requires members of the governing board of the GCCCD to be elected
by trustee area. Requires one member of the GCCCD board to be
elected from each trustee area. Requires that the primary
AB 684
Page 2
election be held on the date of the statewide direct primary
election, with the two candidates receiving the highest number of
votes in each trustee area appearing on the ballot at the general
election, to be held on the same date as the statewide general
election.
4)Provides that each member of a governing board elected at the
GCCCD general election shall hold office for a term of four years.
Provides that the members of the GCCCD board in office on the
effective date of this bill shall hold office until the first
Friday in December in the year in which their respective terms of
office would otherwise have terminated.
5)Requires the territory of the GCCCD to be divided into not fewer
than five and not more than nine trustee areas, as determined by
the governing board. Provides that boundaries of trustee areas
established by the governing board of the GCCCD or the county
committee on school district organization prior to January 1,
2012, to reflect the population enumerated in the 2010 census,
shall be in effect when this bill becomes operative. Requires the
boundaries of each trustee area to be set so that the population
of each area is, as nearly as may be, the same proportion of the
total population of the district as each of the other areas.
6)Contains an urgency clause, allowing this bill to take effect
immediately upon enactment.
The Senate amendments add the provisions of this bill regarding the
election of GCCCD governing board members and add an urgency clause.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill did not contain the provisions
regarding the GCCCD governing board.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee,
potentially significant one-time savings to CCDs by avoiding the
need for an election to change election methods and by avoiding
potential litigation costs that may be incurred under the CVRA if a
CCD's existing election method is challenged. Although this bill
imposes a mandate on the GCCCD to change election methods, any costs
to the GCCCD would not be reimbursable because these provisions are
being proposed at the request of the GCCCD.
COMMENTS : This bill was amended in the Senate to add the provisions
of the May 5, 2011 version of AB 680 (Block), governing the election
of governing board members to the GCCCD, which was approved by the
AB 684
Page 3
Assembly on a 75-0 vote on May 23, 2011. This bill, as amended in
the Senate, is consistent with earlier Assembly actions on this bill
and on AB 680.
Under existing law, a CCD board can be organized so that members are
elected at-large or by trustee areas. For any CCD that wishes to
move from at-large elections to a trustee area method of election,
existing law requires the voters of the CCD to approve the change.
If the voters reject the proposed change, the district must continue
using an at-large method of election.
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. 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.
Existing law permits the State Board of Education (SBE) to waive all
or part of any section of the Education Code, with certain
identified 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 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. This bill enacts a similar waiver
process for CCDs through the BOG, and statutorily requires the GCCCD
to convert from an at-large method of election to district-based
elections.
Please see the policy committee analyses for this bill and for the
March 29, 2011 version of AB 680 (Block) for a full discussion of
the provisions of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0002081