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O2499City Council Meeting: November 10, 2015 Santa Monica, California ORDINANCE NUMBER 7q (CCS) (City Council Series) AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA AMENDING ARTICLE XI OF THE SANTA MONICA MUNICPAL CODE RELATING TO ELECTIONS The City of Santa Monica is committed to safeguarding local democracy and to promoting public trust in government; and and Transparency is essential to the City's promotion and maintenance of public trust; While all aspects of the City's work should be transparent, transparency in the election process is particularly vital; and Campaign finance disclosures are an important component of election transparency; and The efficacy of disclosures is enhanced through prompt, electronic filings, which serve to make information available to the public expeditiously and in a form that is readily accessible; and WHEREAS, California Government Code Section 84615 provides that a legislative body of a local government agency may adopt an ordinance that requires an elected officer, candidate, committee, or other person required to file statements, reports or other documents required by Chapter 4 of the Political Reform Act, except those whose I contributions and expenditure each total less than two thousand dollars ($2,000) in a calendar year, to file such statements, reports, or other documents online or electronically with the City Clerk; and WHEREAS, the City Council expressly finds and determines that the City Clerk's web based system contains multiple safeguards to protect the integrity and security of the data, and will operate it securely and effectively and will not unduly burden filers; and WHEREAS, the software used by the City Clerk's electronic filing system has been certified by the Secretary of State and meets the requirements set by Government Code Section 84615; and WHEREAS, the City Clerk will operate the electronic filing system in compliance with the requirements of California Government Code Section 84615 and any other applicable laws. The City Clerk serves as Santa Monica's elections official; and WHEREAS, because the Clerk must maintain and appear to maintain strict neutrality, including within the Clerk's duties, the provision of advice to initiative proponents is inadvisable; and WHEREAS, including the provision of such advice within the Clerk's duties is also inadvisable because it could generate claims against the City. NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 11.04.010 is hereby amended to read as follows: 4 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. The City Clerk shall charge and collect a filing fee, in the amount of twenty-five dollars, from each candidate at time of filing nomination papers SECTION 2. Section 11.04.040(f) and 11.04.040(g) are hereby added to the Santa Monica Municipal Code to read as follows: Section 11.04.040 Definitions (f) Electronic filing. The submission of required reports and statements in an electronic format approved by the Secretary of State and the City Clerk. (g) Controlled committee. As defined in Government Code Section 82016, a committee that is controlled directly or indirectly by a candidate or state measure proponent or that acts jointly with a candidate, controlled committee, or state measure proponent in connection with the making of expenditures. A candidate or state measure 3 proponent controls a committee if he or she, his or her agent, or any other committee he or she controls has a significant influence on the actions or decisions of the committee. SECTION 3. Section 11.04.090(a) is hereby amended to the Santa Monica Municipal Code to read as follows: Section 11.04.090 Family contributions. (a) Contributions by spouses shall be treated as separate contributions and shall not be aggregated under this Chapter. SECTION 4. Section 11.04.100 is hereby amended to the Santa Monica Municipal Code to read as follows: Section 11.04.100 Filing of statements. Any candidate, committee, elected official or slate mailer organization filing a statement required by Chapter 4 of Title 9 of the Government Code (Political Reform Act of 1974) shall also file a copy of that statement with the City Clerk by the filing deadline specified in State law. Controlled committees that plan to raise $2,000 or more or spend $1,000 or more in a calendar year, must file campaign finance disclosure statements electronically. Campaigns that raise or spend less than $2,000, are exempt from electronic filing and may file paper or electronic versions of disclosure forms. The City Clerk shall post non -electronic statements received on the City's website within twenty- four hours, excluding weekends, or as soon thereafter as practicable. SECTION 5. Section 11.04.165(c) is hereby amended to the Santa Monica Municipal Code to read as follows: 0 Section 11.04.165 Disclosure requirements during signature gathering periods for initiatives, referenda and recalls in the City of Santa Monica. (c) For referenda, which have a thirty -day signature gathering period, campaign disclosure statements shall be electronically filed on the tenth day of the period covering days one through five, on the twenty-third day of the period covering days six through twenty, on the seventh day after the end of the period covering days twenty-one through thirty, and by the nineteenth day after the end of the period covering the fourteen days, or two weeks, after the signature gathering period. SECTION 6. Section 11.04.155(b) is hereby amended to the Santa Monica Municipal Code to read as follows: (b) Facsimile Signatures. All documents required to be signed and filed with the City Clerk pursuant to this Chapter, the California Elections Code of the California Political Reform Act, shall contain original signatures, except documents that must be filed electronically as provided in Section 11.04.100. Facsimile signatures shall not be substituted for original signatures, except as provided in subsection (c) of this section. SECTION 7. Section 11.04.170 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby repealed: SECTION 8. Exhibits to Chapter 11.04 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code are hereby repealed: SECTION 9. 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 5 further, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary to effect the provisions of this Ordinance. SECTION 10. 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 11. 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: w//v MA SHA J` NE MO TRI Cit Attor0e R Approved and adopted this 10th day of November, 2015. Kevin McKeo n, Mayor State of California ) County of Los Angeles ) ss. City of Santa Monica ) I, Sarah P. Gorman, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 2499 (CCS) had its introduction on October 27, 2015, and was adopted at the Santa Monica City Council meeting held on November 10, 2015, by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmembers: Davis, Himmelrich, O'Connor, O'Day, Winterer Mayor McKeown, Mayor Pro Tem Vazquez Noes: Councilmembers: None Absent: Councilmembers: None A summary of Ordinance No. 2499 (CCS) was duly published pursuant to California Government Code Section 40806. ATTEST: Aa,& , �11-6AUL4- 01 Sarah P. Gorman, City Clerk _.__