In November 2008, voters approved Proposition 11—the Voters FIRST Act (Act). The Act authorizes the creation of the new 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission (commission). This commission will be responsible for drawing the district lines for the State Senate, Assembly, and State Board of Equalization. For the text of the Voters FIRST Act, click here. The State Auditor adopted two sets of regulations implementing provisions of the Act. The first set of regulations generally governing the application process was adopted on November 6, 2009. To review the first set of regulations, click here. To review the final statement of reasons, click here. For the basis of some of the regulations, see the Memoranda listed below. The second set of regulations relates to how the first eight commissioners will select the remaining six.
Federal Review of Regulations
In states like California, regulations affecting voting rights need to be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice before they can go into effect to ensure the regulations do not adversely affect voting rights of racial or language minority groups. This process, under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, is commonly referred to as “Preclearance.” On December 18, 2009, the first set of regulations regarding the application process was precleared by the U.S. Department of Justice. On September 10, 2010, the second set of regulations regarding how the first eight commissioners will select the remaining six was submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice for review. The following documents were submitted:
- Adoption of Regulations and Submission to Office of Administrative Law
- Regulations
- Statement of Reasons
- Public Comment
Documents Related to Regulatory Proceedings Regarding How the First Eight Commissioners Select the Final Six
- Notice of Modification to Proposed Regulations
- Memorandum Number 8
- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
- Initial Statement of Reasons
- Proposed Regulations
- Memo
- Public Comments
Archive of Documents Related to Regulatory Proceedings Regarding the Application and Selection Process
- Application Regulations
- Modified Proposed Regulations
- Initial Proposed Regulations
- Public Comments
- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking