HomeMy WebLinkAbout11 LEAGUE OF CA CITIES 07-18-05
AGENDA REPORT
Agenda Item --1L
Reviewed: t
City Manager
Finance Director ~
MEETING DATE:
JULY 18, 2005
TO:
HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM:
WILLIAM A. HUSTON
SUBJECT:
LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES GENERAL ASSEMBLY
RESOLUTION
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council authorize submittal of a request to the League of California Cities
that it sponsor legislation protecting elected officials from unauthorized publication of
their home addresses or phone numbers.
BACKGROUND:
Mayor Bone requested that the attached resolution be considered by the General
Assembly of the League of California Cities (League) at its annual meeting on
October 8, 2005. The General Assembly, which represents most cities in California,
meets annually to consider policy and legislative matters affecting local government.
Each city can petition the General Assembly to include in the League's legislative
platform a proposed change in State law. If included, the League becomes the sponsor
of the effort to secure an author and passage of the legislation.
Per the attached resolution, the General Assembly would support an amendment to
State law which would prohibit the publication in newspapers or similar periodicals of
the home addresses or telephone numbers of elected officials. Current law prohibits
posting this information on the Internet.
A RESOLUTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE LEAGUE OF
CALIFORNIA CITIES ASSEMBLED IN ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN SAN
FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, OCTOBER 8, 2005, THAT THE LEAGUE
SUPPORT LEGISLATION TO EXTEND OR PROVIDE PROTECTION TO
ELECTED AND APPOINTED OFFICIALS FROM THE PUBLICATION OF
THEIR HOME ADDRESSES OR TELEPHONE NUMBERS IN
NEWSPAPERS OR SIMILAR PERIODICALS.
WHEREAS, The Public Safety Officials Home Protection Act of 2002 added
provisions to Government Code § 6254.21 that prohibit any person from knowingly
posting the home address or telephone number of any elected or appointed official, or
the official's residing spouse or child, on the Internet knowing that the person is an
elected or appointed official and intending to cause imminent great bodily harm to that
individual; and
WHEREAS, elected and appointed officials are not protected in a similar manner
from publication of their home address or telephone number in a newspaper or similar
periodical; and
WHEREAS, elected and appointed officials, as defined in § 6254.21, do receive
threats and have become the target of violence at their homes, and the unauthorized
publication of their home addresses or telephone numbers in newspapers or similar
periodicals in ads or articles, like publication on the Internet, is a threat to the security of
public officials in their homes; and
WHEREAS, Government Code § 6254.21 should be amended or other
legislation enacted which prohibits the unauthorized publication of the home addresses
or telephone numbers of elected and appointed officials in newspapers or similar
periodicals or otherwise provides protection to elected and appointed officials from such
unauthorized publication.
RESOLVED, by the General Assembly of the League of California Cities,
assembled in Annual Conference in San Francisco, California, October 8, 2005,
that the League support legislation to extend or provide protection to elected and
appointed officials from the publication of their home addresses or telephone
numbers in newspapers or similar periodicals.