HomeMy WebLinkAboutACA 13 - City of SLO SUPPORT Letter
August 29, 2023
The Honarable Dawn Addis,
Member, California State Assembly
1201 O Street, Suite 5350
Sacramento, CA 95814
The Honorable Chris Holden
Chair, Assembly Appropriations Committee
1021 O Street, Suite 8220
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: ACA 13 (Ward) Voting Thresholds
Notice of SUPPORT (As Amended 8/17/2023)
Dear Assembly Member Holden:
The City of San Luis Obispo 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 on 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, and fair
proposal that protects the principles of democracy and majority rule.
For these reasons, the City of San Luis Obispo supports ACA 13.
Support – ACA 13 (Ward) Voting Thresholds
Sincerely,
Erica A. Stewart
Mayor
City of San Luis Obispo
cc: Senator John Laird, Fax: (916) 651-4017
Assembly Member Dawn Addis, Fax (916) 319-2135
Dave Mullinax, League of California Cities, dmullinax@cacities.org
Meg Desmond, League of California Cities, cityletters@cacities.org