By Jorge Casuso
April 30, 2025 -- Santa Monica has been exempted from a State Assembly Bill that could have forced it to hold district elections while a voting rights lawsuit against the City winds its way through the courts.
The Assembly's Committee on Elections voted 4 to 1 Tuesday morning to approve AB 1079, which allows electoral districts ordered by a Superior Court to be implemented during a pending appeal.
The bill authored by Assemblymember Anamarie Avila Farias eliminates automatic stays that "can frustrate the purpose of California’s voting rights and redistricting laws in cases that are subject to lengthy appeals."
As a result, "election methods and systems that the court found to be discriminatory or otherwise unlawful will continue to be used for elections while appeals proceed," according to the bill.
Under the original bill, Santa Monica was the only City with a voting rights lawsuit pending after a Superior Court judge in 2019 found its at-large election system discriminated against Latino voters and ordered district elections.
As the sole opponent of the bill, the City noted that a year and a half after the ruling, the State Court of Appeal reversed the lower court's decision.
Silvia Solis Shaw, an outside attorney representing the City, told the Committee that forcing Santa Monica to switch to a different election system while the case is under appeal would have "unnecessary and chaotic results."
The City, Solis Shaw said, "would have had to make radical changes," adopt a map "with no community participation" and amend its charter only to have it overturned by the Appeals Court.
Solis Shaw said the City had worked with Assemblymember Zbur, who is the Democratic Caucus chair, and reached an agreement on an amendment that would exclude Santa Monica.
Under the latest version of AB 1079 dated April 23, "staff recommends that this bill be amended to provide that its provisions do not apply to any stage of any proceeding commenced on or before January 1, 2026."
Another amendment adds "language that expressly provides that the bill does not limit the power of a reviewing court to issue stays."
The California Voting Rights Act lawsuit challenging Santa Monica's at-large election system implemented in 1947 was filed by Latino plaintiffs in June 2016.
In February 2019, Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos, who has since retired, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the Ciy to hold district-based elections ("Judge Orders Special District Elections for Council in Final Ruling," February 16, 2019).
The City Council immediately appealed the case to a State Appellate Court that ruled in favor of the City before the plaintiffs appealed to the State Supreme Court, which remanded the case back to the Appeals Court that sent it back to Superior Court.
As of November 6, 2023, the City had been billed $12,803,149 for legal fees by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, one of the most expensive law firms in the country, according to a document from the City.
That does not include other outside law firms hired by the City, including Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange, where Solis Shaw is a partner.
The bill, which was supported by 13 organizations and 37 individuals before the amendments were made, now heads to the Appropriations Committee.
