Attorney General No.

SA85RF0007

Secretary of State No.

362

Description

REAPPORTIONMENT OF ASSEMBLY, SENATE, AND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Repeals existing statutes setting the boundaries of Assembly, Senate, and Congressional districts. Enacts replacement statutes establishing new boundary lines for these districts. Contains statement of findings and declarations of purpose concerning reapportionment. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: The state Supreme Court has ruled that the State Constitution does not permit reapportionment by statutory initiative. Thus, this statutory initiative, by itself, would have no fiscal effect. A companion initiative is being proposed to amend the State Constitution to permit reapportionment by initiative statute and to establish requirements for the composition of legislative districts. If the companion initiative is approved at the June 1986 Primary Election, that initiative (rather than this statutory initiative) would compel the state to reapportion the existing Senate and/or Assembly districts, or if this initiative statute is approved, compel the state to conform to the boundary lines established by this initiative statute. In either event, approval of this constitutional amendment would compel the state to conduct a second Primary Election, prior to the General Election in November 1986, to conform the requirement imposed by the Constitutional Amendment that each Senate District encompass two entire Assembly Districts. The second Primary Election would be necessary to select party nominees from the newly drawn districts prior to the November 1986 election. The estimated cost of holding the second Primary Election would range from $30 to $35 million. In addition, state and local governments would incur significant costs to reapportion Senate and Assembly Districts. There could be some savings in ballot printing costs. Under these circumstances, the costs associated with this initiative statute are attributable to the Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

Proponents

Honorable Don Sebastiani, 25 Mcdonell Street, Sonoma, California 95476 (707) 996-4131

Date

7-26-1985

Document Type

Initiative

Qualified

Failed to Qualify

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