On August 23,2022, the City received a notice of a potential violation of the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) on behalf of a Latino voter in the City of Burbank. The notice included a demand that the City change its at-large voting system to a by-district model or face litigation.

It is the process of determining the boundaries of voting districts for voters and elected representatives in City government. In California, public agencies and other organizations can draw district lines according to the results of the Census, so that each district is substantially equal in population to ensure that each elected official represents about the same number of constituents. All district lines must be reviewed to meet strict requirements for population equality, voting rights protections, and in accordance with the California FAIR MAPS Act (Assembly Bill No. 849).

Districting determines which neighborhoods and communities are grouped together into a district for purposes of electing members of the City Council. The primary goal is to ensure new election districts respect and honor the unique characteristics of neighborhoods in Burbank. District boundaries should reflect the City’s rich history, geography, and diverse community. This is your opportunity to have a voice in how future City Council districts are planned, drawn, and established.

• FEDERAL LAWS

  • Equal Population in each district

  • Comply with the Federal Voting Rights Act: avoid dividing any geographic concentrations of protected class voters or otherwise diluting their voting power

  • No racial gerrymandering: race can be one of many factors in the drawing of a map, but not the predominate factor

• STATE LAWS

  • Geographically contiguous districts

  • Minimize division of neighborhoods and communities of interest

  • Use easily identifiable boundaries that follow natural/artificial barriers (rivers, streets, highways, etc.)

  • Lines are drawn to encourage geographic compactness

• OTHER TRADITIONAL DISTRICTING PRINCIPLES

  • Respect voters’ choices and avoid unnecessary pairing of incumbents

  • Future population growth

A community of interest is a population that shares common social and economic interests that benefits from being united within a single district for the purpose of fair and effective representation. These are the overlapping sets of neighborhoods, networks and groups who share interests, cultures, languages, and histories whose boundaries can be identified on a map.

To identify your community of interest, please use the Draw Your Neighborhood! tool.

Thank you for your participation, the deadline to submit a paper and digital mapping tool to draw district boundaries was July 7th. Please join our remaining public hearings to see which map will be chosen!

Click here to view the map submissions.

—

The City has provided digital and printable mapping tools to empower members of the public to draw and submit their own proposed district maps. The mapping tools can be found here on the project website or in person at the City Clerk’s Office (275 E Olive Ave. Burbank, CA 91502).

No, you do not need to submit a completed map. If preferred, you can draw boundaries for only your neighborhood or only a specific portion of the city. Alternatively, you can submit any form of hand drawn map that identifies street names.

After you submit your map, the demographers will generate the population and other demographic details for your proposed map. Submitted maps become public record and will be available for viewing on the project website. Feedback received through the submitted maps will help inform how the City draws the district boundaries.

No, this is a separate and distinct process. The Burbank Unified School District (BUSD) is currently establishing trustee areas to elect its School Board Members. Although the process is similar, the BUSD effort focuses on the election of Board of Education Members and our effort focuses on the election of City Council Members. The landmarks and communities of interests may have some overlap but may also diverge. To learn more about the BUSD effort, please visit www.drawbusd.org.

The City has developed a robust public engagement program that involves pop-up events to raise awareness of the districting process, public hearings, a series of community forums, and engagement tools available in digital and printed format. The City will utilize social and print media, newsletters, public signage, and partnerships with community-based organizations to ensure community members are aware of all opportunities to engage.

This site provides additional project context and houses all project materials and resources. You may also sign up to join our mailing list by visiting www.burbankca.gov/email-notifications.

For more information, email us at: PIO@Burbankca.gov.

Yes. The CVRA was expressly amended to clarify that it applies to charter cities. See, Elec. Code § 14026(c) defining which political entities are subject to the CVRA (“Political subdivision” means a geographic area of representation created for the provision of government services, including, but not limited to, a …, charter city, … .”). The amendment was intended to implement the holding in Jauregui v. City of Palmdale, 226 Cal. App. 4th 781, 798 (2014) which ruled that vote dilution is a matter of statewide concern, thus preempting home rule in charter cities, and the CVRA is narrowly tailored to address vote dilution. A second California Court of Appeal case has also stated that the CVRA applies to charter cities and confirmed the ruling in the Palmdale case. Yumori-Kaku v. City of Santa Clara, 59 Cal. App. 5th 385, 430 (2020).

No. The City of Redondo Beach case concerned a different law, the California Voter Participation Rights Act, Elec. Code §§ 14050–14057 (“CVPRA”). The holding in Redondo Beach v. Padilla was, therefore, limited to applicability of the CVPRA to charter cities. In the City of Redondo Beach case, the California Court of Appeal held that, in contrast to the CVRA, the CVPRA did not contain express language making it applicable to charter cities.

The pending Santa Monica litigation will not directly affect what happens in Burbank. In the Santa Monica case, the trial court found the city to be in violation of the CVRA. The City of Santa Monica appealed that ruling and won. The case is now in the California Supreme Court. The California Supreme Court ordered the parties to brief the following issue: “What must a plaintiff prove in order to establish vote dilution under the California Voting Rights Act?”

The City of Burbank has not been sued but has voluntarily chosen to transition from at-large voting for City Council members to by-district voting. While the Santa Monica case may provide important information on the meaning of the CVRA, the City of Burbank has the authority to change to by-district elections in accordance with law, no matter what the Supreme Court rules in the Santa Monica litigation.

Although both efforts are taking place concurrently, the City of Burbank and the Burbank Unified School District are separate entities. The interests in a school board by-trustee district are different from those for a City council member district. The Council and the School Board have separate and distinct governing jurisdictions, or areas over which they govern. We are also honoring each process as different questions and interests may arise during the hearings and forums. Burbank Unified is also ahead of the City process with its own schedule of hearings and meetings.