The California Legislature has sunk to a new low. At the end of this year’s legislative session they voted to approve SB-1250, which removes the requirement that California legislators live in the district they represent. Basically the bill says that anyone could be elected to represent a district as long as they maintain a residence there. In other words, a politician could live in Beverly Hills, but run to represent San Joaquin County as long as they rented an apartment there. And according to the text of SB-1250, this applies for both “The domicile of a Member of the Legislature or a Representative in the Congress of the United States….”
The implications of this are staggering. This means that any corporate-backed flunky could represent a California district even if they only flew in to campaign there. This means that stooges with enough PAC money behind them could buy themselves a seat in the legislature. And what’s even more scary is the fact that only a handful of legislators voted against this sleazy scam.
The Governor has not signed this bill yet. We need to flood Brown’s office with calls telling him to veto this assault on democracy.
On Monday, September 10, first thing in the morning, please call Governor Brown and tell him to veto SB-1250.
Phone: (916) 445-2841
If you can’t call, be sure to send an e-mail.
And the second thing you should do is find out if your reps in the State Senate and Assembly voted for or against. Here’s the voting record.
If you don’t know who your reps are, use this link to find out.
If your reps voted to oppose this bill, call them and thank them. If they voted to approve it, don’t be shy about letting them know how you feel.
Here’s an editorial from the San Francisco Chronicle that lays it all out.
We Can Live without Legislators Who Don’t Live in their Districts
The Horizon and the Skyline 