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Proposition 11 of 2008 (or the Voters FIRST Act) was a law enacted by California voters that placed the power to draw electoral boundaries for State Assembly and State Senate districts in a Citizens Redistricting Commission, as opposed to the State Legislature. To do this the Act amended both the Constitution of California and the Government Code. The law was proposed by means of the initiative process and was put to voters as part of the November 4, 2008 state elections. In 2010, voters passed Proposition 20 which extended the Citizen Redistricting Commission's power to draw electoral boundaries to include U.S. House seats as well.
Contents
- Provisions
- Supporters
- Others supporting the initiative include
- Newspaper Editorial boards in favor
- Arguments in favor of Prop 11
- Donors supporting Prop 11
- City of Pasadena endorses
- Path to the ballot
- Supporters file campaign financing complaint
- Opposition
- Opponents to Prop 11 include
- Arguments against Prop 11
- Democrat against Democrat
- Donations to opposition campaign
- Polling information
- Additional reading
- References
Provisions
The Act amended Article XXI of the state constitution and enacted Title 2, Division 1, Chapter 3.2 of the Government Code. These changes transfer authority for establishing Assembly, Senate, and Board of Equalization district boundaries from elected representatives to a fourteen-member commission. The commission is chosen as follows:
- Government auditors select sixty registered voters from an applicant pool.
- Legislative leaders are permitted to reduce the pool.
- Auditors then pick eight commission members by lottery, and those commissioners pick six additional members for a total of fourteen.
The commission must include five commissioners of the largest political party in California (in practice the Democrats), five commissioners from the second largest party (currently the Republicans), and four of neither party. For approval, new district boundaries need votes from three commissioners of the largest party, three from the second largest, and three of the commissioners from neither party. The commission may hire lawyers and consultants to assist it in its work.
The state legislature retains responsibility for drawing district boundaries for California's Congressional Districts, but the Act adds additional criteria that the legislature must follow in drawing those boundaries.
Supporters
California Common Cause was the advocacy group sponsoring the initiative.
Others supporting the initiative include
Newspaper Editorial boards in favor
Arguments in favor of Prop. 11
Notable arguments that have been made in favor of Prop. 11 include:
Donors supporting Prop 11
As of September 24, three campaign committees supporting Prop. 11 have filed officially with the Secretary of State's office. Some donors have contributed to more than one of these committees. The largest donors altogether are:
City of Pasadena endorses
On Monday, March 10, 2008 the Pasadena City Council became the first California city to endorse the proposition.
Path to the ballot
Kimball Petition Management was paid $2,332,988 from two separate campaign committees to collect signatures to put this measure on the ballot. Signatures to qualify the measure for the California 2008 ballot measures|November 2008 ballot were submitted to election officials on May 6, 2008. On June 17, the California Secretary of State announced that a check of the signatures had established that the measure qualifies for the ballot.,
Supporters file campaign financing complaint
In late August, supporters of Prop. 11 filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission because the California Correctional Peace Officers Association—a group that opposes Prop. 11—gave contributions totaling $577,000 to the Leadership California committee, which is a campaign committee associated with state senate leader Don Perata. The Prop. 11 group said that it was wrong for the police officers union to give the money to the Perata committee rather than directly to the No on 11, and also alleged that the police union was trying to curry favor with Perata. Days later, the FPPC took the rare step of rejecting the complaint without conducting an investigation.
Opposition
The official committee set up to oppose Proposition 11 was called "Citizens for Accountability; No on Proposition 11". Paul Hefner is the spokesman for the "No on 11" effort.
Opponents to Prop. 11 include
Arguments against Prop. 11
Arguments that have been claimed in opposition to Prop. 11 include:
Democrat against Democrat
Kathay Feng, the main author of the initiative, and director of California Common Cause, said in late June that since the measure qualified for the ballot and the California Democratic Party had announced its opposition, there had been an attempt to bring everybody into line and to encourage those in support of the measure to oppose it.
Donations to opposition campaign
As of September 24, the opposition committee, "Citizens for Accountability; No on 11", had raised $350,000:
Polling information
A poll released on July 22, 2008 by Field Poll showed Proposition 11 with 42% support and 30% opposition. A late August poll released by the Public Policy Institute of California showed Prop. 11 with 39% of voters in support.