California Proposition 119, Creation of Citizens Redistricting Commission Initiative (June 1990)

California Proposition 119
Election date June 5, 1990
Topic Redistricting policy and State legislative elections
Status Defeated
Type Combined initiated constitutional amendment and state statute

California Proposition 119 was on the ballot as a combined initiated constitutional amendment and state statute in California on June 5, 1990. It was defeated.

A "yes" vote supported creating a 12-member Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, appointed by retired appellate justices, responsible for drawing district boundaries for the state legislative, congressional, and Board of Equalization districts.

A "no" vote opposed creating a 12-member Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, appointed by retired appellate justices, responsible for drawing district boundaries for the state legislative, congressional, and Board of Equalization districts.

Election results

California Proposition 119
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		1,761,510	36.19%
No		3,105,501	63.81%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Proposition 119 was as follows:

“

Reapportionment by Commission. Initiative constitutional amendment and statute.

”

Ballot summary

The ballot summary for this measure was:

“

Amends state Constitution. Requires 12-person Commission, appointed by retired appellate justices, adjust boundaries of California Senatorial, Assembly, Congressional, and Board of Equalization districts. Commissioners appointed from nominees of nonpartisan, nonprofit state organizations. Requires Commission review plans submitted by registered voters and adopt plan or amended plan which complies with standards. Each district's population may vary no more than 1% from average district population. Senatorial districts formed from two adjacent Assembly districts, Board of Equalization districts from 10 adjacent Senate districts. Elections held for all Senate and Assembly seats in 1992. Summary of Legislative Analyst's estimate of net state and local government fiscal impact: Requires Legislature to transfer $3.5 million to the Independent Citizens Redistricting Fund in 1990-91 for expenses of commission. Transfers thereafter, every 10 years, adjusted for changes in the Consumer Price Index, resulting in the reduction of reapportionment costs by several millions of dollars each decade. If Supreme Court undertakes redistricting, state costs would increase thereby offsetting part or all of above savings.

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Constitutional changes

California Constitution
Articles
I • II • III • IV • V • VI • VII • VIII • IX • X • XA • XB • XI • XII • XIII • XIII A • XIII B • XIII C • XIII D • XIV • XV • XVI • XVIII • XIX • XIX A • XIX B • XIX C • XX • XXI • XXII • XXXIV • XXXV

If Proposition 119 had been approved, it would have:

• Repealed Article XXI of the California Constitution.
• Amended Section 1 of Article IV.
• Added an entirely new Article IV A.
• Amended Section 2 of Article IV.

Fiscal impact

See also: Fiscal impact statement

The fiscal estimate provided by the California Legislative Analyst's Office said:

“

The measure requires the Legislature to transfer $3.5 million from legislative funds to the Independent Citizens Redistricting Fund in 1990-91 for expenses of the commission. No other public monies may be appropriated or expended for redistricting. The Legislature must make transfers to the fund every 10 years thereafter, adjusted for changes in the Consumer Price Index, and reduced to account for any previously unexpended funds. As a result of this limit, reapportionment costs in the state could be reduced by several millions of dollars each decade. However, if the task of adopting a reapportionment plan fell to the Supreme Court, state costs would increase, thereby offsetting part or all of the above savings.

”

Support

Supporters

Organizations

• League of Women Voters of California
• Los Angeles Taxpayers Association

Arguments

• Arguments in Favor of Proposition 119, Voter Information Guide: "Prop. 119 will restore fair elections and save taxpayers money. Legislators spent $7 million redistricting in 1981 and plan spending $12 million next year. Prop. 119 limits expenditures to $3.5 million."
• Arguments in Favor of Proposition 119, Voter Information Guide: "The Public Interest is not served when legislators design their own election districts. It is an obvious conflict of interest. Prop. 119 corrects this. It establishes a temporary Independent Bipartisan Commission to do the redistricting. All meetings and negotiations of the Commission must be in public."
• Arguments in Favor of Proposition 119, Voter Information Guide: "Using current redistricting methods, legislators unnecessarily divide cities and counties. For instance, half of Fresno was put in a district with Carmel. Pasadena's minority citizens were lumped with Bakersfield. Newport Beach and a piece of Irvine were combined with Calexico at the Mexican border. Cities and counties across California were divided for the political advantage of legislators. Prop. 119 requires that cities and counties be united and forbids this 'gerrymandering.'"

Opposition

Opponents

Individuals

• President of the California Association of Highway Patrolmen Tom Noble
• President of the California Teachers' Association Ed Foglia
• Retired Judge Bruce W. Sumner

Arguments

• Arguments Against Proposition 119, Voter Information Guide: "The last thing California needs is a worthless and expensive new taxpayer-funded bureaucracy to redraw legislative and congressional districts! This is not a new idea. Voters rejected this approach twice before, in 1982 and 1984. Unfortunately, Proposition 119 is even more flawed than those earlier proposals."
• Arguments Against Proposition 119, Voter Information Guide: "Proposition 119 says ordinary citizens cannot make nominations. Instead, commissioners are nominated by 'nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest organizations.' Who are these organizations? Under the definition in Proposition 119, many organizations lobbying the Legislature on behalf of major corporate interests could make nominations. So, too, could extremist groups from both the Right and the Left."
• Arguments Against Proposition 119, Voter Information Guide: "[Proposition] 119 takes redistricting away from you and gives it to the same special interests and politicians who contributed over $1,000,000.00 to put it on the ballot."

Path to the ballot

In California, the number of signatures required for an combined initiated constitutional amendment and state statute is equal to 8 percent of the votes cast at the preceding gubernatorial election. For initiated amendments filed in 1990, at least 595,485 valid signatures were required.

See also

1990 Measures

• 1990 Measures
• State legislative elections on the ballot
• Redistricting policy on the ballot
• 1990 legislative sessions

California

• California ballot measures
• California ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Full text of Proposition 119
• Official State Voter Guide