MALIBU—On July 7, Senate Constitutional Amendment 8 was approved by the Elections and Constitutional Committee. The next step for the amendment is for the bill to be voted on by the Senate; it will need to earn a two-thirds vote in order to be approved. The bill will then be placed on the ballot for the general election in November 2016.
Senate Constitutional Amendment 8 was formed to increase the number of seats on the Board of Supervisors from 5 to 7. The bill was authored by State Senator Tony Mendoza, who made a statement that the California counties need more representation. When California first became a state it was far less populated than it is now.
State Senator Mendoza is a Democratwho represents the 32nd District, which includes parts of Los Angeles County and Buena Park. Senator Mendoza served as mayor and city councilman in Artesia and represented the 56th District from 2006 to 2012.
State Senator Sharon Runner helped co-author the bill. Runner is a Republican who represents the 21st District, which includes parts of Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County. She previously represented the 17th District.
The bill will only include the five largest counties in the state, Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, San Diego County, and Orange County. It will make it so that counties with more than 2 million residents will have an extra 2 seats to their Board of Supervisors.
