A successful ballot measure in 2008 which transferred authority for drawing state political boundaries from the state legislature to a new Citizens Redistricting Commission. Now the responsibility for drawing new district maps for the State Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization will go to 14 California citizens chosen to serve on that Commission.
You have to include information of all of your immediate family members as defined by the guidance provided by the Bureau of State Audit, even if they do not reside with you.
To learn more about how an immediate family member is defined please visit the Bureau of State Audit website at
http://www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov/conflicts_of_interest_guidance.html
Here is an excerpt from the Guidance:
"A member of an applicant's immediate family is an applicant's spouse, registered domestic partner, parent, child, sibling, or in-law (which includes the applicant's father in-law, mother in-law, son in-law, daughter in-law, brother in-law, and sister in-law through marriage or domestic partnership) with whom the applicant has a special, or bona fide, relationship. A person has a bona fide relationship with a member of his or her family member if any of the following are true:
- within the preceding 12 months: the applicant and family member have cohabited for a period or periods totaling 30 days or more;
- within the preceding 12 months, the applicant and family member have shared ownership of any property having a value of $1,000 or more;
- within the preceding 12 months, the applicant has given to or received from the family member a financial benefit or benefits totaling $1,000 or more."
The answer from the Bureau of State Audit is no. Union dues are not considered donations for the purposes of the supplemental application.
If an applicant has concerns about the information the panel will be looking at (to ensure it is his/her information rather than another person – because of identity theft), the applicant can ask to review the information.
You can request your letters of recommendation from any three individuals or organizations who are familiar with you and can best write about the reasons you are qualified to serve on the Commission. It will be helpful if the letters address any or all of the main qualifications - 1) your ability to be impartial; 2) your appreciation for California's diverse demographics and geography; and 3) your relevant analytic skills. The BSA has provided a guide to the recommended content and form of the letters at https://application.wedrawthelines.ca.gov/pdfs/letters_of_recommendation.pdf
Our presentations are open to all Californians - you do not have to be Latino to attend, although parts of the presentation will focus on the importance of redistricting for the Latino community. Our presentations will be conducted in English. We do not have any workshops scheduled in Orange County - we encourage Orange County residents to access our "live" or "on-demand" webcasts at http://www.latinosdrawthelines.org/events.html.
Part 3 of the Supplemental Application asks for three different types of information about immediate family members. The first section requires you to include certain information (such as address, occupation and employer) about all of your immediate family members, as defined at the beginning of Part 3. You must provide this information whether or not the family members have engaged in any conflict of interest activities, and whether or not you have a bona fide relationship with them.
Although you are also asked about conflict of interest activities and bona fide relationships with immediate family members in the later sections of Part 3, you must still provide the basic information for all immediate family members in the first section. You should be aware that under the privacy provisions of the Supplemental Application, the addresses and telephone numbers of your immediate family will not be posted on the Internet.
"Latinos Draw the Lines" is the website maintained by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund. The purpose of the website is to provide information and technical assistance to Latino civic leaders to help them complete the Redistricting Commission application process.
The NALEO Educational Fund is the leading non-profit, non-partisan organization that facilitates full Latino participation in the American political process from citizenship to public service. You can find out more about our Board of Directors at http://www.naleo.org/NALEOefBOD.html. You can also find out about our programs, services, and regional offices at http://www.naleo.org/naleoeducationalfund.html. The organization does not have regular informational meetings about all of our activities. However, each program may have public informational meetings depending on its specific activities. These will be generally posted on our website at www.naleo.org.
Please see the guidance provided in Q3 and Q7 above.
To answer your specifc question. You have to provide information about all of your family members. You will then have the opportunity to specify if you have a bonafide relationship with that relative.
Yes. You are required to list all family members that meet the relationships as defined in Question 3 above.
Yes you can get a letter of recommendation from someone in the applicant pool. The same recommendations as Question 6 above apply.
Yes, contributions to religious organizations are included under financial contributions.
The BSA has put out the following guidance:
"In response to numerous inquiries regarding information about
family members, we would like to clarify that applicants should
list information about all family members, as requested on the
application, to the best of their ability. However, the only
information we will post on our website about each of your
listed family members is the person's name, relationship to
you, city and county of residence, whether the person has a bona
fide relationship with you, and whether the person has engaged
in any of the activities that could trigger a conflict of
interest. We will not post the person's street address,
telephone number, occupation, or employer."
Proposition 11 does impose restrictions that affect the eligibility of Commissioners to hold certain elected and appointed public offices. In addition, the restrictions apply to certain other kinds of employment and lobbying activities. Below is a description of the restrictions:
Ten-year restriction: For ten years after being appointed to the Commission, a commission member cannot hold elective public office at the federal, state, county, or city level in California.
Five-year restriction: For five years after being appointed to the Commission, a commission member cannot hold appointive federal, state, or local public office. In addition, during this five-year period, a commission member cannot serve as paid staff for the Legislature or any individual legislator, and cannot register as a federal, state, or local lobbyist in California.
If you hold these positions currently, you may apply to the commission. However, you may be asked to step down once selected to the Redistricting Commission.
Please note that the language in Proposition 11 that sets out these restrictions is not entirely clear. Therefore, it is not clear whether the restrictions would apply to the following positions:
· School board members
· Community College board members
· “Special District” board members (such as publicly-elected water, utility, fire protection, or health care board members)
· Federal judges
· Local appointed positions on boards or commissions that are primarily advisory in nature
· Elected neighborhood councils
The NALEO Educational Fund has urged the Bureau of State Audits to develop regulations to clarify these restrictions, and to interpret them in the least restrictive manner possible. It is not clear how the BSA will proceed in this matter.
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