Loading...
O2519City Council Meeting: June 14, 2016 Santa Monica, California ORDINANCE NUMBER' (ccs) (City Council Series) AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA AMENDING SECTIONS 11.04.010, 11.04.120, 11.04.160, AND 11.04.165 OF THE CITY ELECTIONS CODE CLARIFYING THE CANDIDATE'S STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS, DELETING REFERENCES TO OUTDATED FORMS, AND CLARIFYING THAT CAMPAIGN DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS MUST BE ELECTRONICALLY FILED WHEREAS, the City desires to amend its Elections Code to mirror certain provisions updated in the California Elections Code ("Proposed Amendments"); and WHEREAS, these Proposed Amendments include clarifying that any person age 18 or older may circulate a nomination paper for an election candidate, clarifying the candidate's statement of qualifications, deleting references to outdated forms, and clarifying that campaign disclosure statements must be electronically filed through the City Clerk's website. NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: 1 SECTION 1. Chapter 11.04 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 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 nomination papers. If the nomination paper for an incumbent officer is 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 paper. Any person age 18 or older may circulate a nomination paper. Only one person may circulate each nomination paper. Where there are full terms and short terms to be filled, the term shall be specified in the nomination paper. All nomination papers 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. 11.04.120 Candidate's statement of qualifications. (a) Each candidate for Santa Monica City Council, Santa Monica Rent Control Board, or other elected office of the City of Santa Monica, may prepare a statement of qualification on an appropriate form provided by the City Clerk. Such statement may include the name, age and occupation of the candidate and a brief description of no more than two hundred words of the candidate's education and qualifications expressed by the candidate. The statement may make no reference to another candidate. The statement shall not include the party affiliation of the candidate, nor membership or activity in partisan political N organizations. Such statement shall be filed in the office of the City Clerk when the candidate's nomination papers are returned for filing. It may be withdrawn but not changed during the period for filing nomination papers and until five p.m. of the next working day after the close of the nomination period. No candidate will be permitted to include additional materials in the voter's pamphlet. (b) The City Clerk shall send to each voter, together with a sample ballot, a voter's pamphlet which contains the written statements of each candidate's qualifications that is prepared pursuant to this Section. The statement of each candidate shall be printed in type of uniform size and darkness and with uniform spacing. (c) The City Clerk shall provide a Spanish translation to those candidates who wish to have one, and shall select a person to provide that translation who is a professionally -certified translator as required by State law. (d) The costs of printing, handling and translating of any statement submitted pursuant to this section shall be paid by the City. (e) The City Clerk shall reject any statement which contains any obscene, libelous or defamatory matter, which violates the constitutional or civil rights of any person, or which is prohibited by State or Federal law from being circulated through the mail. (f) The City Clerk shall comply with all recommendations and standards set forth by the California Secretary of State regarding occupational designations and other matters relating to elections. (g) Nothing in this Section shall be deemed to make any such statement or the authors thereof free or exempt from any civil or criminal action or penalty because of any false or libelous statements offered for printing or contained in the voter's pamphlet. 3 11.04.160 Format for petitions for recall, initiative, referendum or amendment of the City Charter. Any petition for recall, initiative, referendum or amendment of the City Charter must comply with the applicable format contained in the applicable sections of the California Elections Code governing the same matters. In addition, the proponent(s) of any such petition must comply with all other applicable sections of the California Elections Code including, but not limited to, any requirements relating to the filing of a notice of intent to circulate petition, summary and title prepared by the City Attorney, any publication or posting obligations, any time limitation for securing signatures, and any filing requirements.11.04.165 Disclosure requirements during signature gathering periods for initiatives, referenda and recalls in the City of Santa Monica. (a) Any committee that is raising or spending funds to support or oppose an initiative, recall or referendum shall file their financial disclosure documents electronically with the City Clerk through the City Clerk's website, on dates that are within the time period in which signatures are gathered. (b) For initiatives and recalls, campaign disclosure statements shall be electronically filed on the fifteenth day of the signature gathering period covering days one through ten, on the thirtieth day covering days eleven through twenty-five, and every thirty days thereafter for the thirty -day period ending five days earlier through the end of the signature -gathering period. El (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. (d) Otherwise, campaign statements shall be completed and filed as specified in State law. 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 5 newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become effective 30 days from its adoption. APPROVED AS TO FORM: MARS fA JONfrS MOU RIE City A orneyj , C Approved and adopted this 14th day of June, 2016. A M 14X<111 Ton Vazquez, a r State of California ) County of Los Angeles) ss. City of Santa Monica } I, Denise Anderson -Warren, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 2519 (CCS) had its introduction and adoption at the Santa Monica City Council meeting held on June 14, 2016, by the following vote: AYES: Councilmembers: Davis, Himmelrich, Winterer, O'Connor, Mayor Vazquez, Mayor Pro Tem McKeown NOES: Councilmember: None ASSENT: Councilmemben O'Day ATTEST: kuAt, An : Denise Anderson -Warren, City Clerk A summary of Ordinance No. 2519 (CCS) was duly published pursuant to California Government Code Section 40806.