HomeMy WebLinkAbout16.(Handout 3) ACA_13 Support Letter16.(Handout 3)
110ENTRAL SAN
FAX.- (925) 372-0192
www.centralsan.org
September 8, 2023
The Honorable Christopher Ward
California State Assembly
1021 O Street, Suite 6350
Sacramento, CA 95814
Submitted electronically via Position Letter Portal
RE: Assembly Constitutional Amendment 13 (Ward) — Support [As Amended
September 1, 2023]
Dear Assembly Member Ward:
ROGER S. BAILEY
General Manager
KENTONL. ALM
Counsel for the District
(510) 375-4571
KATIE YOUNG
Secretary of the District
The Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (Central San) is pleased to support your
Assembly Constitutional Amendment 13, related to protecting the majority vote. Central
San, a wastewater utility, collects and cleans more than 13 billion gallons of wastewater
every year and serves nearly half a million residents and more than 15,000 businesses
in the East San Francisco Bay Area. Within its 146 square mile service area, Central
San operates a 54 million -gallon -per -day capacity treatment plant, 18 pumping stations,
over 1,500 miles of sewer lines, a household hazardous waste collection facility, a
laboratory, and provides both commercial and residential recycled water programs.
Under current law, an initiative constitutional amendment that proposes to amend the
California Constitution requires a simple majority of voters casting votes in favor of the
measure for the amendment to be approved. Notably, this simple majority requirement
is irrespective of any of the provisions contained within the proposed constitutional
amendment; should the text of the proposed constitutional amendment contain
provisions that would otherwise require voter thresholds in excess of a simple majority
in the future, those increased vote thresholds may nonetheless be imposed with a
simple majority of voters. Phrased another way, this allows a simple majority of voters to
insert a three-fifths, two-thirds, four-fifths, or higher vote threshold into the California
Constitution, even without the corresponding level of support in terms of votes cast in
favor of the original amendment proposal.
ACA 13 would propose to California voters a solution to this problem with the initiative
process: if placed on the ballot by the California Legislature, California voters would be
ACA 13 (Ward) — Support [As Amended September 1, 2023]
September 8, 2023
Page 2
asked to decide whether an initiative constitutional amendment containing provisions
that increase vote thresholds should be required to attain the same proportion of votes
in favor of the amendment that the proposed increased vote thresholds would demand.
In this way, ACA 13 would ensure that a proposal cannot impose vote thresholds on our
communities and our State that exceed the level of support for imposing such
thresholds.
ACA 13 protects the democratic process in local communities by ensuring that a simple
majority of statewide voters cannot restrict the will of a supermajority of voters in a local
community. For these reasons, Central San is pleased to support Assembly
Constitutional Amendment 13. Please feel free to contact Emily Barnett, Central San's
Communications and Government Relations Manager at ebarnett@centralsan.org with
any questions.
Sincerely,
�11 In K'I
Roger S. Bailey
General Manager
cc: The Honorable Senator Glazer
Marcus Detwiler, Legislative Representative, California Special Districts Association