April 19, 2023
The Honorable Gail Pellerin
Chair, Assembly Elections Committee
1020 N Street, Room 365
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: ACA 13 (Ward) Voting Thresholds
Notice of SUPPORT (As Amended 8/17/2023)
Dear Assembly Member Pellerin:
The City of San Marcos supports ACA 13 (Ward), which would require any constitutional amendment proposed by initiative, which increases a vote requirement for future measures, be approved by the same proportion of votes cast as the measure would require. The measure would also preserve the right of cities to place advisory questions of the ballot to ask voters their opinion on issues.
Under current law a simple majority of voters (50% plus 1 vote) may vote to require a super majority (for example, 66 and 2/3%) voter approval for future action. This framework has given disproportionate power to a small number of voters, with a little more than 1/3 of the voters being able to prevent the enactment of laws that a majority of voters agree upon.
In fact, at the local level this has made it unnecessarily difficult to pass revenue measures dedicated to critical services such as homelessness and housing, fire, public safety, and roads. For example, from 2001-2018, city revenue measures with a 2/3 vote requirement have enjoyed only a 51% passage rate, compared to a 70% passage rate of all local revenue measures over the same period of time. The status quo has prevented cities from providing desperately needed services.
ACA 13 addresses this issue by simply requiring any initiative that enhances a voter requirement to pass by that same voter requirement. ACA 13 is good government, fair proposal that protects the principles of democracy and majority rule.
For these reasons, City of San Marcos supports ACA 13 (Ward) and appreciates your continued leadership in addressing this issue.
Sincerely,
Rebecca D. Jones
Mayor
cc: Catherine Hill, League of California Cities – San Diego and Imperial Counties League of California Cities (Via email: [email protected]) PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 2
Administration
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