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SR-104-000-06 (5) F:Ctyclerk/Elections/InitRef/staffrep/0122 City Council Meeting: January 22, 2002 Santa Monica, California TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: City Staff SUBJECT: Candidate Information Sheet for City Elective Offices Introduction At its meeting of July 24, 2001, the City Council directed staff to prepare an ordinance requiring candidates for City elective offices to distribute an information sheet to potential petition signers during the nomination/signature-gathering period of a municipal election. This reports responds to the request and presents to Council a draft ordinance for discussion and possible additional direction to staff, or for introduction and first reading. The draft ordinance includes a draft information sheet for public distribution. Background In March of last year City staff analyzed the status of statewide initiative reform and reported to Council on the findings. The City Council, in order to improve the local process, enacted various amendments to the Elections Chapter of the Municipal Code including requiring that proponents distribute public education information sheets when gathering signatures for initiative, charter amendment, referendum and recall petitions. In addition, Council also established requirements for campaign contribution disclosures during the aforementioned signature-gathering periods. As a continuum to the improvement of the local process, Council directed staff to prepare an ordinance containing similar public information sheet requirements for the City Council and the Rent Control Board, and for School Board and College District candidates, provided the City had the authority to do so. Discussion The California Constitution gives charter cities the authority to adopt their own election laws. Art. XI, Section 5(b). The Santa Monica City Charter provides all elections shall be held in accordance with the California Elections Code unless otherwise provided by ordinance. Section 1403. In accordance with these provisions, Santa Monica has adopted its own elections code and follows State law on matters not covered by the local code. Thus, the City has the authority to adopt provisions governing the method of electing City officials. Candidate Information Sheet The proposed ordinance would require the preparation and disbursement of a simple Candidate Information Sheet to inform voters and circulators of the current requirements of law. Attached is a draft of the proposed sheet that gives information on City elective offices, the requirements for candidacy, the nomination process, explains why signatures are needed on a petition, how to withdraw a signature, and where to get additional information. Circulators would be required to make the document available to potential signers. The Council may wish to consider whether, as a matter of policy, voters’ need for this type of information warrants imposing the distribution requirement upon circulators because the ordinance will impose a requirement upon circulators which the benefit may not justify. Financial Impacts Adoption of the proposed ordinance will have no financial impact. Recommendation Staff recommends that Council review the proposed ordinance and information sheet, and either give additional direction to staff, or introduce and hold first reading of the ordinance. Prepared by: Maria Stewart, City Clerk Marsha Moutrie, City Attorney Attachments: (A) Proposed Ordinance (B) Proposed Information Sheet f:\atty\muni\laws\mjm\candidateinfo-1.wpd City Council Meeting 1/22/02 Santa Monica, California ORDINANCE NUMBER ____ (City Council Series) AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA ADDING SECTION 11.04.176 TO THE SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO CANDIDATE INFORMATION SHEETS THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 11.04.176 is hereby added to the Santa Monica Municipal Code to read as follows: Section 11.04.176. Candidate Information Sheet. (a) In order to ensure that any person considering signing a nomination petition has information about the nomination process sufficient to exercise his or her rights in an informed manner, the City Clerk and City Attorney shall prepare a Candidate Information Sheet to accompany each petition for candidacy for a City office. (b) Each Candidate Information Sheet shall include at least the following: (1) the nomination process; (2) the requirements for candidacy; and (3) information about how to withdraw a signature. (c) Each person gathering signatures shall provide a copy of the Candidate Information Sheet to every signer of the petition. In addition, each person gathering signatures shall make copies of the Candidate Information Sheet readily available to prospective signers either by offering copies orally or by displaying them prominently in the same location where the signatures are being gathered so that signers may readily see and take them. 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, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary to effect 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 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 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 30 days from its adoption. APPROVED AS TO FORM: _________________________ MARSHA JONES MOUTRIE City Attorney CANDIDATE INFORMATION SHEET DRAFT The following information is provided to all Santa Monica residents by the City Clerks Office of the City of = Santa Monica with the intent of clarifying the process for nominating candidates for a City elective offices, Please note that any person soliciting signatures and to answer the most frequently asked questions. on a nomination petition for an elective office must make this form available to any member of the public. What kind of City elective offices are there? There are two types of elective offices in the City of Santa Monica, the City Council and the City’s Rent Control Board. For the November 2002 election there will be three vacant seats on the City Council and three vacant seats on the Rent Control Board. Although the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and the Santa Monica College consolidate their respective elections with the City of Santa Monica, these regulations do not apply to candidates for the School Board of the College Board. Who can be a candidate for these offices? Any resident who is a registered voter in the City of Santa Monica may run for a City Council or a Rent Control Board seat. How does a candidate get nominated?How does a candidate’s name get placed on the ballot? A candidate must obtain at least 100 valid signatures from Santa Monica registered voters on a nomination petition. Either the candidate or any registered voter in the City may circulate a nomination petition. The th nomination petition must be filed with the City Clerk no earlier than the 113 day (July 15, 2002) and no th later than the 88 day (August 9, 2002) before the November 5, 2002, municipal election. Should an th incumbent not file by the filing deadline on the 88 day, the filing period shall be extended an additional five days (August 14, 2002) for candidates other than the incumbent for the elective office. What if I sign the petition but change my mind later and want to rescind my signature? Any voter who has signed any petition, and who subsequently wishes his or her name withdrawn, may do so by filing a written request for the withdrawal of the signature with the City Clerks Office. This request = must be filed prior to the date the petition is filed with the City Clerk. What other information can I obtain regarding the candidate or on running for office? Printed on the back of this page are the related sections of the Santa Monica Municipal Code and the State Elections Code. If you have any other questions related to nomination of candidates for City elective offices or elections in general, please call the City Clerks Office at (310) 458-8211. = Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 11.04.010: Nomination of candidates. Not earlier than the one hundred thirteenth day nor later than the close of business on the eighty-eighth day before a municipal election, the voters may nominate candidates for election by signing a nomination petition. If nomination papers for an incumbent officer are not filed by the close of business on the eighty-eighth day before the election, the voters shall have until the close of business on the eighty-third day before the election to nominate candidates other than the incumbent for the elective office. Each candidate shall be proposed by not less than one hundred voters, but only one candidate may be named in any one nomination petition. Any person registered to vote at the election may circulate a nomination petition. Where there are full terms and short terms to be filed, the term shall be specified in the nomination petition. All nomination petitions must be filed with the City Clerk. California State Elections Code Chapter 3. Nominations. 201. Eligibility to be elected of appointed. Unless otherwise specifically provided, no person is eligible to be elected or appointed to an elective office unless that person is a registered voter and otherwise qualified to vote for that office at the time that nomination papers are issued to the person or at the time of the person’s appointment. Article 2. Nomination of Candidates. 10220. Method of nomination; nomination filing. Candidates may be nominated for any of the elective offices of the city in the following manner: Not earlier than the one hundred thirteenth day nor later than the eighty-eighth day before a municipal election during normal office hours, as posted, the voters may nominate candidates for election by signing a nomination paper. Only one candidate may be named in any one nomination paper. No voter may sign more than one nomination paper for the same office, and in the event the voter does so, that voter’s signature shall count only on the first nomination paper filed which contains the voter’s signature. Nomination papers subsequently filed and containing that voter’s signature shall be considered as though that signature does not appear thereon. Each seat on the governing body is a separate office. Any person registered to vote at the election may circulate a nomination paper. Where there are full terms and short terms to be filled, the term shall be specified in the nomination paper. 10221. Signatures; nomination papers. The signatures to each nomination paper shall be appended on the same sheet of paper, and each signer shall add his or her place of residence, giving the street and number, if any, or other designation of his or her place of residence so as to enable its location to be readily ascertained. 10222. Affidavit of circulator. Every nomination paper shall have annexed an affidavit of the person who circulated it, to the effect that he or she saw written all the signatures appended thereto, and knows that they are the signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be. (01/02)