HomeMy Public PortalAbout23-2302 - REPEALING SECTION 2419 (PROHIBITED MASS MAILINGS BY COUNCILMEMBERS) OF CHAPTER 4 (CITY OFFICES -- COUNCIL MEMBERS -- MEETINGS) OF ARTICLE II (ADMINISTRATION) OF THE CARSON MUNICIPAL CODEORDINANCE NO. 23-2302
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARSON, CALIFORNIA, REPEALING SECTION 2419 (PROHIBITED MASS MAILINGS BY COUNCILMEMBERS) OF CHAPTER 4 (CITY OFFICES — COUNCIL CHAMBERS — MEETINGS) OF ARTICLE II
(ADMINISTRATION) OF THE CARSON MUNICIPAL CODE
WHEREAS, Carson Municipal Code (“CMC”) Section 2419 (Prohibited Mass Mailings by
Councilmembers) provides as follows: “(a) No member of the City Council nor Mayor shall cause to be
designed, produced, printed, copied, or distributed, by any means, to any person’s residence, place of
employment or business, or post office box, any newsletter, brochure, flyer, letter, or other mailing at
City expense, excluding any single letter sent in response to an unsolicited request, without the prior
approval of the City Council. (b) City expense shall be defined as any expenditure of City funds, any use
of City staff time or City facilities or equipment to design, produce, print, or copy any newsletter,
brochure, flyer, poster, letter, or other mailing”; and
WHEREAS, CMC Section 2419 was enacted in 2018 in connection with revision of Council Policy
1.1.02 (formerly SMP No. 1.56), which provided the pre-approval of the City Council to the Mayor and
each of the Councilmembers to make mailings pursuant to CMC Section 2419 without approval of the full
Council on a mailing-by-mailing basis provided the mailings utilized the applicable required stationary
specified in the revised policy; and
WHEREAS, CMC Section 2419 and Council Policy 1.1.02, even with the pre-approval it provides,
operate to unnecessarily restrict the City ina manner that goes beyond the State Political Reform Act and
the FPPC Regulations promulgated thereunder, including with respect to the mass mailing prohibitions
contained therein, by preventing the City from availing itself of any of the exceptions to the mass
mailing prohibition that are set forth in the Political Reform Act; and
WHEREAS, the additional City restrictions create confusion, are not mandated by state law, are
not necessary to ensure compliance with state law, are administratively overburdensome and
inefficient, and are not conducive to the City’s switch to Council districts which has occurred since 2018,
including the need for the Mayor and Councilmembers to hold and advertise numerous town-hall style
meetings to discuss matters of City governance with their District (on the in case of the Mayor, citywide)
constituents; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has recently determined that it is necessary and appropriate to
rescind Council Policy 1.1.02; and
WHEREAS, absent the pre-approval provided by Council Policy 1.1.02 or another similar pre-
approval, CMC Section 2419 would require Council approval on a mailing-by-mailing basis even for
mailings of fewer than 200 items and that otherwise would not constitute a prohibited mass mailing
under state law. The City Council can adopt a required stationary separate and apart from, and without
the need for the administratively burdensome requirement of, CMC Section 2419; and
WHEREAS, based on the foregoing, the City now sees fit and intends to repeal CMC Section 2419
in its entirety.
ORDINANCE NO. 23-2302
Page 1 of 4
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARSON, CALIFORNIA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. RECITALS. The foregoing recitals are true and correct, and are incorporated herein
as findings of fact.
SECTION 2. AMENDMENT. Section 2419 (Prohibited Mass Mailings by Councilmembers) of
Chapter 4 (City Offices - Council Chambers - Meetings) of Article Il (Administration) of the Carson
Municipal Code is hereby repealed in its entirety.
SECTION 3. SEVERABILITY. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or portion of this
ordinance is, for any reason, held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of
competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this
ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have adopted this ordinance and each section,
subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or portion thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more
sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases, or portions thereof may be declared invalid or
unconstitutional.
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect thirty
(30) days after its adoption.
SECTION 5. CERTIFICATION. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this ordinance, and
shall cause the same to be posted and codified in the manner required by law.
ORDINANCE NO. 23-2302
Page 2 of 4
PASSED, APPROVED and ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Council on this 7th day of March
2023.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Ex Ve oth i Ee
Sunny K. Soltani, City Attorney
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) ss.
CITY OF CARSON )
CITY OF CARSON:
< Lula Davis-Holmes, Mayor
ATTEST:
4 Prndal our
Dr. Khaleah K. Bradshaw, City Clerk
|, Dr. Khaleah K. Bradshaw, City Clerk of the City of Carson, California, hereby attest to
and certify that the foregoing ordinance, being Ordinance No. 23-2302 passed first
reading on the 7" day of February, 2023, adopted by the Carson City Council at its
meeting held on the 7" day of March, 2023, by the following roll call vote:
AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS:
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS:
ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS:
ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS:
RECUSED: COUNCIL MEMBERS:
Davis-Holmes, Hilton, Dear, Hicks, Rojas
None
None
None
None
é
Dr. Khaleah K. Bradshaw, City Clerk
ORDINANCE NO. 23-2302
Page 3 of 4
2023.
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) ss.
CITY OF CARSON
|, Dr. Khaleah K. Bradshaw, City Clerk of the City of Carson, California, do hereby certify that
Ordinance No. 23-2302 has been duly and regularly published according to law and the order of the
City Council of said City and that same was so published in Our Weekly, newspaper of general
circulation on the following date:
Adopted Ordinance: V\arcla \b, 2024
7 ;
In witness whereof, | have hereunto subscribed my name this eS day of Wecurdloyc j
K Prndala ur
Dr. Khaleah K. Bradshaw, City Clerk
ORDINANCE NO. 23-2302
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