Title:
Title
Sacramento Independent Redistricting Commission Recruitment Report
End
FileID
File ID: 2020-00773
Location
Location: Citywide.
End
Recommendation: Receive and file.
Recommendation
FileName
Contact: Mindy Cuppy, MMC, City Clerk, (916) 808-5442, Office of the City Clerk
Body
Presenter: None.
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Recruitment, Education, and Outreach Plan
3-Sacramento City Charter - Article XII Redistricting
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: At the general election on November 8, 2016, the voters approved a measure that added article XII (§§ 170-179) to the City Charter, thereby creating the Sacramento Independent Redistricting Commission (“SIRC”). SIRC has exclusive authority to redraw council-district boundaries (§ 170(a)), is to conduct an open and transparent process with robust public input that will assist in the consideration of the boundaries (§ 170(b)(2)), and must be fully established by December 1, 2020 (§ 174(j)).
On January 28, 2020 the city clerk provided a report to the city council that explained the plans for: recruiting a qualified applicant pool that the reflects the city’s diversity; assigning sufficient staff to support the commission’s activities; training commissioners; providing work space and relevant technology to support the commission’s activities, including city email addresses for commissioners; facilitating an open selection process to hire redistricting consultants; identifying and reserving meeting spaces suitable for holding public meetings in each council district; creating a website for the commission; and encouraging public participation in the redistricting process. That Recruitment, Education, and Outreach Plan for the Sacramento Independent Redistricting Commission is attached.
The City Clerk brought together a community and civic organization based Redistricting Commission Advisory Group (the “Advisory Group”) to encourage broad public engagement in the SIRC recruitment and application process as well as overall community participation in the redistricting process. The Advisory Group assisted with:
• Amplifying and broadcasting information on the recruitment and selection of SIRC commissioners;
• Assisting in garnering interest in participation on the SIRC from broad geographical and diverse communities of interest; and
The Advisory Group will continue to facilitate community participation, understanding, and education throughout the overall redistricting process.
An outside firm was engaged to develop a recruitment marketing plan/strategy, a partner toolkit, campaign digital materials, print materials, and bi-weekly e-blasts to share with our Advisory Group.
City staff created a redistricting brand that was used during commissioner recruitment and will continue as the brand throughout the redistricting process.
We received 201 applications to serve on the inaugural City of Sacramento Independent Redistricting Commission (SIRC) before the May 1, 2020 deadline. All applicants still must be determined to be qualified applicants by the City Clerk’s Office. Detailed voluntary demographic data is below.
|
Ethnic Origin |
Applicants |
Percent |
|
American Indian or Alaska Native (Non-Hispanic or Latino) |
1 |
0.5% |
|
Asian (Non-Hispanic or Latino) |
8 |
4.0% |
|
Black or African American (Non-Hispanic or Latino) |
41 |
20.4% |
|
Filipino |
2 |
1.0% |
|
Hispanic or Latino |
31 |
15.4% |
|
Middle Eastern or North African |
2 |
1.0% |
|
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Non-Hispanic or Latino) |
1 |
0.5% |
|
White (Non-Hispanic or Latino) |
78 |
38.8% |
|
Two or More Races |
20 |
10.0% |
|
Prefer to Self-Describe |
3 |
1.5% |
|
Prefer Not to Say |
14 |
7.0% |
|
Total |
201 |
100% |
Below are the applicants by council district:
|
|
Applicants |
Percent |
|
D1 |
26 |
12.9% |
|
D2 |
17 |
8.5% |
|
D3 |
31 |
15.4% |
|
D4 |
41 |
20.4% |
|
D5 |
30 |
14.9% |
|
D6 |
15 |
7.5% |
|
D7 |
26 |
12.9% |
|
D8 |
15 |
7.5% |
|
Total |
201 |
100% |
When looking at the voluntarily disclosed ethnic origin information it was compared it to the available data from the Census (7/1/2019). It is an overall very diverse applicant pool. 58% of applicants who shared their ethnic origin identified as part of a minority group. Black/African American (7% higher than Census data) and Two or More Races (3% higher) were adequately represented. As compared to Census data, Hispanic or Latino (13.3% lower) and Asian American (10.9% lower) were, despite having many applications come in from these minority groups, under-represented to a certain degree. Filipino and Middle Eastern or North African were not measured by the Census.
There was also a diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity in the applicant pool:
• Regarding gender identity, 53% applicants reported their gender identity as female; 41% male; 1% nonbinary, third gender, or self-described; and 5% preferred not to say.
|
• Regarding sexual orientation, 1% reported asexual, 1% bisexual, 73% heterosexual/straight, 9% homosexual/gay/lesbian, 1% pansexual, 1% self-described, and 14% preferred not to say. |
|
|
|
• Regarding age, the largest age group of applicants was 60-70 with 23%. As for the rest, 7% of applicants are older than 70, 10% age 50-60, 13% age 40-50, 12% age 30-40, 6% age 20-30, .5% age 20 or less, and 26% preferred not to say. |
The City Clerk will publish and transmit the list of eligible candidates to the Sacramento Ethics Commission, which creates a sub-pool of 25 to 30 of the most qualified candidates and randomly selects eight SIRC commissioners from the sub-pool (one from each existing council district). The eight SIRC commissioners selected by the Ethics Commission will then select five commissioners and two alternates from the remaining applicants in the sub-pool, no later than December 1, 2020.
Policy Considerations: City Charter article XII (§§ 170-179) specifies the Sacramento Independent Redistricting Commission composition and duties.
Economic Impacts: Not applicable.
Environmental Considerations: Not applicable.
Sustainability: Not applicable.
Commission/Committee Action: Not applicable.
Rationale for Recommendation: Sacramento City Charter §174 states that no later than June 30 of each year ending in the number zero, the city clerk shall report to the city council on applications received up to that point and any additional outreach that is being undertaken or planned to ensure that the applicant pool has a sufficient number of qualified applicants and reasonably reflects the city’s diversity.
Financial Considerations: $24,000 was expended for a marketing plan and related digital and printed marketing materials.
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): None.