CSDA supports SB 594 (Glazer), a measure that will call for special districts to adopt their post census re-districting maps prior to 180 days before a general election.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau was delayed in completing its constitutional mandate to provide census data. This will cause the release of the official census data to be delayed by as much as six months to the states and local governments.
Without this data, state and local electoral divisions cannot be adjusted to reflect the new population changes or comply with various state and federal voting laws.
While the Legislature was able to avail itself of having State Assembly, State Senate and Board of Equalization redistricting commission deadlines pushed back by the California State Supreme Court, as of today, local agencies do not have such a remedy.
Recent legislation has adjusted the dates for counties and general law cities to adopt their re-districting maps generally 205 days prior to a general election and 174 days prior for a June election. Community colleges and school districts have their own dates to adopt new boundaries. Some suggested proposals would have aligned special districts with the same timelines as cities and counties.
However, many special districts have generally defaulted to a long-standing statute that calls for new maps to be adopted at least 180 days prior to a general election.
There are exceptions. For example, some special district principal acts such as community services districts, recreation and parks districts, and fire protection districts have a November 1, 2021 deadline to have their electoral division boundaries adjusted if they have electoral divisions. Additionally, there may be other “one-offs” throughout the codes. Given that the U.S. Census Bureau has recently stated their target date for the delivery of tabulated data is September 30, 2021, this leaves mere weeks to conduct a transparent and compliant redistricting process, rather than many months under normal conditions.
Additionally, the special districts community has dozens of enabling acts and scores of special acts, as well as other code references that may point to their unique deadlines for adopting new maps following a federal census or omit it altogether.
In order to resolve the above issues and rely on long standing practices, SB 594 provides that, notwithstanding any other date, special districts shall adopt their redistricted maps prior to 180 days before the district’s next regular election after January 1 in every year ending in two. This bill also eliminates the November 1, 2021 deadline for the specific types of special districts described above.
SB 594 also clarifies that the deadline for city, county, and special district redistricting is also the date for passing an ordinance or resolution, not its effective date. Generally, some local agency ordinances and resolutions only go into effect 30 days after being passed, which would further truncate the deadlines.
If your district or district type has a unique situation or has any other feedback about the proposed changes, please reach out to CSDA Legislative Representative Anthony Tannehill at anthonyt@csda.net.
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