A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending Sections 1 and 4 of, and adding Section 4.5 to, Article XI thereof, relating to counties.

The California Constitution requires that a county charter provide for a governing body of 5 or more members, elected (1) by district or, (2) at large, or (3) at large with a requirement that they reside in a district, and to provide for the compensation, terms, and removal of members of the governing body. The California Constitution also provides that charter counties are subject to statutes that relate to apportioning population of governing body districts. Existing law requires, following each decennial federal census and using that census as a basis, the board of supervisors of a county to adjust the boundaries of any or all of the supervisorial districts of the county so that the districts are as nearly equal in population as may be and comply with applicable provisions of federal law. Existing law also requires a general law county to have a board of supervisors consisting of 5 members, and requires, except as provided, each member of the board of supervisors to be elected by the district which the member represents. This measure would, in a charter county that is found at a decennial United States census, beginning with the 2020 United States census, to have a population of more than 3,000,000, require, and deem the county charter to provide for, a governing body consisting of 7 or more members, not to be thereafter reduced to fewer than 7 members even if, in a future decennial United States census, the county is not a county with a population of more than 3,000,000. The measure would similarly provide that, in such a county, the expenditures for the governing body and its staff may not exceed, for any subsequent fiscal year after the release of the census finding that the county has a population of more than 3,000,000 the amount that was allocated for the expenses of the governing body and its staff in the county's adopted budget for the fiscal year in which that same census was conducted, as adjusted each fiscal year thereafter for changes in the California Consumer Price Index. This measure would also extend these same requirements to the governing body of a general law county that is found at a decennial United States census, beginning with the 2020 United States census, to have a population of more than 3,000,000. This measure would require, on and after January 1, 2021, a county charter to provide for members to be elected by district with a requirement that the member reside in a district, and would impose that requirement on all general law counties. As described above, the California Constitution requires that a county charter provide for the compensation of members of the governing body. The California Constitution also requires that, if a county charter provides for the Legislature to prescribe the salary of the governing body, the salary be prescribed by the governing body by ordinance. This bill would repeal that latter provision on January 1, 2021. This measure would also make other technical, nonsubstantive changes.