In the November election, voters in San Bernardino County passed Measure K with a two-thirds supermajority. Measure K would limit supervisors to one four-year term and cap their pay at $60,000 a year. Assemblyman Chad Mayes has now introduced Assembly Bill 428, in which county supervisor term limits could not be restricted to fewer than two terms and any adjustments to the supervisors’ compensation could only be made by the supervisors themselves.
At first look, AB 428 appeared to be going directly against what county voters already approved with Measure K. After Z107.7 News ran a story calling out this apparent violation of the voters’ will, Assemblyman Mayes came on the Z107.7 Up Close Show to clarify the true meaning of the bill. Reporter Cassidy Taylor has the story…
“We had a little debate on the floor of the assembly just yesterday, and there were a couple of assembly members that had believed that very same thing and I said in my opening statement that this bill is prospective, it means going forward, not retroactive, which means it does not apply to any local initiative that’s already been passed in the state of California.”
Assemblyman Chad Mayes joined the Up Close Show last Friday to clarify that his new bill does not apply to Measure K, and only applies to areas where no local initiatives are in place. However, based on the second part of AB 428, the question remains, why would county supervisors be able to set their own pay in areas without local initiatives?
“Well, the Constitution actually allows for that.”
Now, if supervisors are setting their own pay, should there be a cap on what they can pay themselves?
“What I would suggest is, yes.”
If you want to know more about the discussion Assemblyman Chad Mayes and Gary Daigneault had on the Up Close Show, you can catch the entire episode at https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id386367587.
