O1456
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CA:RMM:jld084jhpc
city council Meeting 9-27-88
Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER 1456 (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA MONICA ADDING CHAPTER 9B TO ARTICLE IV OF
THE SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE PROHIBITING
DISCRIMINATION BY CLUBS OR ORGANIZATIONS WHICH ARE NOT
DISTINCTLY PRIVATE AND PROHIBITING THE ATTENDANCE BY CITY
EMPLOYEES AT MEETINGS AND/OR PROGRAMS OF ORGANIZATIONS
walCH HAVE DISCRIMINATORY MEMBERSHIP POLICIES
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 9B is added to Article IV of the Santa
Monica Municipal Code to read as follows:
CHAPTER 9B. DISCRIMINATION.
SECTION 4940. Findings and Purpose.
The City Council finds and declares:
(a) A significant barrier to the
advancement of women and minorities in the
business and professional life of the City
exists by virtue of the discriminatory
practices
of
certain
clubs
or
organizations which are not distinctly
private and where business is frequently
conducted.
While
such
clubs
or
organizations may avowedly be formed for
social or civic purposes, the extent to
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which many of their activities have had a
prejudicial impact on the business,
professional, and employment opportunities
of women and minorities cannot be ignored
or minimized.
(b) The business activity most
frequently occurs in clubs or
organizations having more than four
hundred members which provide regular meal
services. such services facilitate the
conducting of business. Such clubs or
organizations also rent their facilities
for use as conference rooms for business
meetings attended by nonmembers.
( c) The dues and expenses of
members at such clubs or organizations are
often paid by their employers because the
employee's activities at said clubs or
organizations serve to develop and enhance
the employer's business.
(d) The city of Santa Monica has a
compelling interest in eradicating
discrimination based on sex, race, color,
religion, ancestry, national origin,
sexual orientation, Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), or disability
in order to assure all of its citizens a
fair and equal opportunity to participate
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in the business and professional life of
the city.
(e) The conduct and practices which
exclude persons from entry or
consideration for membership in or the
full advantages and privileges of such
membership on these bases are
discriminatory and unacceptable, are
injurious to the body politic, and to the
business community and the City of Santa
Monica.
(f) The city of Santa Monica's
interest in eliminating such practices in
clubs or organizations covered by this
Ordinance outweighs the interest of their
members in private association.
SECTION 4941. Definitions. The
following words or terms shall have the
following meanings when used in this
Chapter:
(a) A Club
(hereinafter "Club")
Distinctly Private.
institution, club,
accommodation which
following requirements:
or Organization
Which Is Not
Any organization,
or place of
satisfies the
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(1) Has membership of
whatever kind totaling 400 or more.
(2) Provides regular meal
service by providing, either directly or
indirectly under a contract or agreement
with another person, any meals on three or
more days per week, during two or more
weeks per month, during six or more months
per years.
(3) Regularly accepts
payments from nonmembers for expenses
incurred at the club by members or
nonmembers in the furtherance of trade or
business, or on behalf of nonmembers for
expenses incurred at the club by
nonmembers in the furtherance of trade or
business.
(b) Regularly Accepts Payments. A
club accepting as many payments during the
course of a year as the number of weeks
any part of which the club is available
for use by members or nonmembers per year.
The payments may be for dues, fees, use of
space, facilities, services, meals, or
beverages.
(c) Furtherance of Trade or
Business. Payment made by or on behalf of
a trade or business organization, payment
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made by an individual from an account
which the individual uses primarily for
trade or business purposes, payment made
by an individual who is reimbursed for the
payment by the individual's employer or by
a trade or business organization, or other
payment made in connection wi th an
individual's trade or business, including
entertaining clients or business
associates, holding meetings, or other
business-related events.
SECTION 4942. Prohibi~ion Against
Discrimination. It shall be unlawful for
a club which is not distinctly private to
deny to any person entry to facilities at,
membership in, or the full enjoyment of
said club or organization on the basis of
sex, race, color, religion, ancestry,
national origin, sexual orientation,
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
(AIDS), or disability.
SECTION
penalties.
(a) civil Action. Any person,
including the city of Santa Monica, may
enforce the provisions of this Chapter by
means of a civil action.
4943.
Enforcement
and
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(b) Injunctions. Any person who
commits an act, or proposes to commit an
act, or engages in any pattern and
practice of illegal discrimination in
violation of section 4942 (Prohibition
Against Discrimination) may be enjoined
therefrom by any court of competent
jurisdiction. An action for inj unction
under this subsection may be brought by
any aggrieved person, by the City
Attorney, or by any person or entity who
will fairly and adequately represent the
interest of the protected class.
(e) Penalties. Any person who
violates or aids or incites another person
to violate, the provisions of this Chapter
is liable for each and every such offense
for the actual damages, and such amount as
may be determined by a jury, or a court
sitting without a jury, up to a maximum of
three times the amount of actual damage,
but in no case less than Two Hundred Fifty
Dollars ($250.00), and such attorney's
fees and court costs as may be determined
by the court in addition thereto, suffered
by any aggrieved party. In addition, the
court may award punitive damages in a
proper case.
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(d) Criminal Penalty. Each
violation of this Chapter shall be a
misdemeanor punishable by six (6) months
in jailor a Five Hundred Dollar ($500.00)
fine, or both.
(e) Nonexclusive Remedies and
Penalties. Nothing in this Chapter shall
preclude any person from seeking any other
remedies, penalties, or procedures
provided by law.
SECTION 4944. Prohibition Against
Attendance at Meetings and/or Programs of
Organizations with Discriminatory
Membership Policies.
(a) No employee of the City of
Santa Monica while on duty shall knowingly
attend any meeting or program offered by
any organization, or at a facility
operated by any organization, that
illegally discriminates against persons on
the basis of sex, race, color, religion,
ancestry, national origin, sexual
orientation, Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome (AIDS), or disability in its
membership or admission policies. No city
employee shall take any action that would
cause any person attending such a meeting
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or program to believe that the City
employee was attending the meeting or
program on behalf of the City.
(b) The City shall not pay for any
employee's membership in any organization
that illegally discriminates against
persons on the basis of sex, race, color,
religion, ancestry, national origin,
sexual orientation, Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), or disability
in its membership or admission policies.
(c) This section shall not prevent
employees of the City of Santa Monica from
responding to emergency requests for
assistance affecting the public welfare or
safety.
(d) The City Council discourages
its members from knowingly attending any
meeting or program offered by any
organization, or at a facility operated by
an organization, that illegally
discriminates against individuals based on
sex, race, color, religion, ancestry,
national origin, sexual orientation,
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
(AIDS), or disability in its membership or
admission policies. Unless directed
otherwise by a majority vote of the City
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Council, no member of the City Council
shall take any action that would cause any
person attending such a meeting or program
to believe that the City Councilmember was
attending the meeting or program on behalf
of the City Council.
(e) The City Council discourages
the Mayor from knowingly issuing
proclamations, commendations, or other
such recognitions to any organization that
illegally discriminates against
individuals based on sex, race, color,
religion, ancestry, national origin,
sexual orientation, Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), or disability
in its membership or admission policies.
SECTION 2. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal
Code or appendices thereto inconsistent with the provisions of
this Ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no
further, are hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to affect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid
or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of any competent
jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby
declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each and
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every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the Ordinance would be subsequently declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 4. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall
attest to the passage of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall
cause the same to be published once in the official newspaper
within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become
effective after 30 days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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ROBERT M. MYERS
City Attorney
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Adopted and approved t .
I hereby certify that
was duly and regularly
ordinance No. 1456(CCS)
a meeting of the City
Council on the 13th day of September 1988; that the said
Ordinance was thereafter duly adopted at a meeting of the City
Council on the 27th day of September 1988 by the following
Council vote:
Ayes: Councilmembers: Finkel, Jennings, A. Katz, H.
Katz, Reed, Zane, Mayor Conn
Noes: Councilmembers: None
Abstain: Councilmembers: None
Absent: Councilmembers: None
ATTEST:
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