General Assembly approves bylaw amendments and acts on petitioned resolution during annual conference

Delegates representing the League of California Cities’ member cities approved changes to the organization's bylaws and voted on a petitioned resolution during the concluding General Assembly at the Annual Conference and Expo.

Recommended to the General Assembly by the Cal Cities Board of Directors, the bylaws changes are part of an ongoing effort to enhance Call Cities’ governance system. 

Among the set of recommendations, two required bylaws amendments. These amendments will:

• Formalize oversight of the General Resolutions Committee by establishing the second vice president as the chair of the committee, while retaining the president’s authority to appoint the vice chair of the committee.
• Ensure a more inclusive Nominating Committee by adding one committee member appointed by the Cal Cities president from among the caucus directors and one additional committee member appointed from the at-large directors for a total of 13 committee members.

The changes also included several non-substantive revisions to Cal Cities’ bylaws:

• Clarify that, unless the Board establishes otherwise, the president appoints the chair of Board-established committees.
• Remove “treasurer” from the title of the second vice president to avoid confusion and clarify organizational responsibilities,
• Replace the term “board member(s)” with “director(s)” to promote consistency.

The voting delegates approved these changes.

Voting delegates take action on petitioned resolution

Following the bylaws vote, delegates took action on a petitioned resolution that would require Cal Cities to partner with, and help advance and qualify, the Brand-Mendoza-Candell Tripartisan Land Use Initiative for the November 2024 ballot. 

Resolutions that focus on municipal issues of statewide importance are a key part of Cal Cities’ policy development. Under the annual conference resolutions process, members can submit resolutions 60 days in advance of the Annual Conference. Members can also submit a petitioned resolution 24 hours before the General Assembly begins.

To qualify, a petitioned resolution must be signed by 10% of the voting delegates and be germane to city issues. All qualified petitioned resolutions are forwarded to the General Resolutions Committee for consideration. The General Resolutions Committee consists of city officials appointed by each department, diversity caucus, division, and policy committee, along with city officials appointed by the Cal Cities president.

The General Resolutions Committee may provide a recommendation to the General Assembly on the petitioned resolution but cannot propose amendments to it.

The petitioned resolution qualified and was forwarded to the General Resolutions Committee for consideration. Following public comment and Committee discussion, the General Resolutions Committee recommended that the resolution be referred to the Housing, Community, and Economic Development and Environmental Quality policy committees for further study.

The General Assembly voted to approve the General Resolutions Committee’s recommendation.

Cal Cities staff are now working on the next steps for the petitioned resolution to be reviewed by the policy committees.

Cal Cities appreciates the time and effort of all those who took part in the 2022 General Assembly and Annual Business Meeting. More information about the bylaws amendments and resolutions is available in the General Assembly Packet.