Bill Text: CA AB1676 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Elected officials: residency requirements.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-10-08 - Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 7173.) Assembly refused to concur in Senate amendments. (Ayes 42. Noes 12. Page 7177.) [AB1676 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB1676-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1676 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 2, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 24, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 6, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 24, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fuentes
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Jeffries and Solorio)
JANUARY 21, 2010
An act to add Section 1065 to the Government Code, relating to
elected officials, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1676, as amended, Fuentes. Elected officials: residency
requirements.
Existing law imposes residency requirements on specified elected
officials in California. The California Constitution provides that
each house of the Legislature is the sole judge of the qualifications
of its Members.
This bill would require that a person elected to a nonjudicial
public office for a county, city, or school district, maintain his or
her domicile, as defined, within the jurisdiction within which
voters are qualified to vote for the office during his or her term of
office. The bill would require a person who violates this provision
to immediately forfeit his or her office and would disqualify the
person from holding any state or local public office for a period of
4 years. The bill would provide that these provisions would
apply to all persons holding a nonjudicial, public office for a
county, city, or school district on or after the effective date of
the bill. As to persons holding these offices
serving terms of office that commence on or after November
2, 2010, the bill would also make a violation of the domicile
requirement punishable by either a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000
or a fine not to exceed $1,000, imprisonment in a county jail for no
more than 6 months, or by both fine and imprisonment , if it is
established that the officeholder moved his or her domicile out of
the jurisdiction of the office with the intent of retaining the
office and misleading the voters within the jurisdiction to believe
that he or she maintains his or her domicile within the jurisdiction
of the office . The bill would authorize enforcement of its
provisions by the Attorney General , or
the district attorney or the county counsel of a
county for a violation involving a nonjudicial public office whose
territory is located wholly or partially within that county
, or by the city attorney of a city for a violation involving a
nonjudicial public office whose territory is located wholly or
partially within that city .
The bill would also provide that Members of the Legislature
should be domiciled in the districts that they represent and that
each house of the Legislature should review its rules relative to
qualifications to hold office and amend those rules as appropriate.
By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated
local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1065 is added to the Government Code, to read:
1065. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person
elected to a nonjudicial public office for a county, a city, or a
school district, shall continue to maintain his or her domicile
within the jurisdiction in which voters are qualified to vote for the
office during his or her term of office. A person does not violate
this subdivision if, after being elected for a term of office, the
boundaries of the jurisdiction in which voters are qualified to vote
for the office are changed during that term of office so as to
exclude his or her domicile.
(b) A person who violates subdivision (a) shall immediately
forfeit his or her office and is disqualified from holding any state
or local public office for a period of four years.
(c) (1) A fraudulent violation of
subdivision (a) is punishable by one of the following:
(1)
(A) A civil penalty not to exceed one thousand dollars
($1,000).
(2)
(B) By imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding six
months, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or
by both that fine and imprisonment.
(2) For purposes of this section, a fraudulent violation of
subdivision (a)" is established if an officeholder fails to retain
his or her domicile in the jurisdiction of his or her office with the
intent of retaining the office while domiciled outside the
jurisdiction of the office and misleading the voters within that
jurisdiction to believe that he or she maintains his or her domicile
within the jurisdiction of the office.
(d) An action to enforce this section may be brought by the
Attorney General , or the district
attorney or county counsel of a county for a violation involving a
nonjudicial public office whose territory is located wholly or
partially within that county , or the city attorney of a
city for a violation involving a nonjudicial public office whose
territory is located wholly or partially within that city .
(e) Subdivisions (a) and (b) apply to all persons holding
a nonjudicial public office for a county, city, or school district
on or after the effective date of the statute that added this
section. Subdivision (c) applies only to persons
holding these offices under terms of office that commence
on or after November 2, 2010.
(f) For purposes of this section, "domicile" shall have the same
meaning as defined in subsection subdivision
(b) of Section 349 of the Elections Code.
SEC. 2. The provisions of this section are severable. If any
provision of this section or its application is held invalid, that
invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can
be given effect without the invalid provision or application.
SEC. 3. The Legislature hereby finds and
declares that, in order to ensure that Members of the Legislature
adequately and effectively represent their constituents, those
elected to the Legislature should be domiciled in the districts that
they are elected to represent. As each house of the Legislature
judges its rules relative to the qualifications to hold office
pursuant to Section 5 of Article IV of the California Constitution,
each house of the Legislature should review its rules relative to
qualifications to hold office and should amend those rules as
appropriate.
SEC. 4. SEC. 3. No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred
by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this
act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or
infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the
definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII
B of the California Constitution.
SEC. 5. SEC. 4. This act is an
urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the
public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of
the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts
constituting the necessity are:
Because existing law is unclear as to whether a public official
must be domiciled in the jurisdiction in which voters are qualified
to vote for the office during his or her incumbency in the office, it
is necessary that this act take immediate effect.
