In Depth:
The Sacramento City Council placed Measure B on the ballot “to make an exception to the timelines for the Sacramento Independent Redistricting Commission to establish a council district boundaries map, so that a new map can be operational for the council member elections to be held in 2022.”
In 2016, Sacramento voters amended the Sacramento City Charter to create the Sacramento Independent Redistricting Commission. The charter currently provides that the commission has six months from the time U.S. Census data is received to draw a council district boundaries map, and that a map must be in place at least six months before a primary election for the map to be effective for that primary election and any run-off election thereafter.
After that 2016 charter amendment, the State of California changed the statewide primary date (which is also the city’s primary date) from June to March. Additionally, the coronavirus pandemic has caused the U.S. Census Bureau to adjust its estimated delivery date of block-level data from April 1, 2021 to July 31, 2021.
Measure B accounts for these post-2016 developments by making a one-time exception to the timelines for the commission to establish the next council district boundaries map. Specifically, the measure would add a new charter subsection that provides, “for the map based on the 2020 U.S. decennial census, the commission shall adopt the final map establishing new council districts no later than October 31, 2021; and any map that is effective before the council member candidate nomination period opens may be used for the 2022 elections.”
Source: City Attorney's Impartial Analysis of Measure B
