Alhambra Municipal Code Art. XXIII Initiative

The electors of the city shall have the right to propose, by petition, and to adopt at the polls, any ordinance which the council might enact. Such ordinance shall be proposed by petition filed with the city clerk, setting forth said ordinance in full, signed by electors in numbers as hereinafter required.

Before any petition for submission of such ordinance shall be circulated, an affidavit by or on behalf of its proponents, shall be filed with the city clerk, containing a copy of the proposed ordinance, a statement in not more than two hundred words giving the reasons of said proponents for the adoption of such ordinance, a statement of the intention to secure submission of said ordinance to a vote of the electors by an initiative petition, and the address of the party making such affidavit. The council shall have five days after the filing of such affidavit to send by registered mail to the address given in such affidavit, a statement in not more than two hundred words, of the reasons why such proposed ordinance should not be adopted. These reasons for and against the adoption of the proposed ordinance shall be printed as a part of the individual certificates constituting the petition.

The form and contents of the petition and mode of certification shall be substantially as provided in Article XXII of this Charter, with changes as may be required to comply with the provisions of this article, and each individual certificate constituting said petition shall have printed thereon the reasons for and against the adoption of the proposed ordinance, and the signer of said certificate must certify that he or she has read such reasons.

Editor's note: This section was amended by the voters of the city on March 26, 1996.

Upon presentation to the council of such petition, signed and verified by qualified electors in number equal to fifteen percent of the total vote cast at the last preceding general municipal election, asking for the submission to the electors of an ordinance that the council itself might adopt, it must either adopt and enact such measure without alteration, or submit the same to the electorate at the next city election occurring subsequent to sixty days after the filing of said petition. But if said petition requests the calling of a special election and is signed and verified as herein provided and by electors in number equal to twenty-five percent of said vote, then such ordinance, if not so adopted and enacted by the council, must be submitted to the electorate at a special election to be called within sixty days from the presentation of such petition.

Editor's note: The first sentence of this section was amended by Charter Amendment No. 2, ratified by the qualified electors of the city on June 8, 1954.

If such proposed ordinance is one that the council might adopt, except that it involves the repeal or amendment of an ordinance adopted by the electorate, as herein provided, and if in such case said petition is signed and verified by qualified electors in number equal to thirty percent of the above-mentioned vote, then such proposed ordinance must be submitted to the electors of the city at the next general municipal election occurring subsequent to sixty days after its presentation.

All provisions of article XXII of this Charter, relating to the examination and amendment of petitions, shall be applicable to petitions under this article.

All petitions under this article shall be filed with the city clerk within forty days after the date of the first signature thereto. If any ordinance proposed by petition, or upon which a referendum vote is requested by petition, be not submitted to the voters at or within the time specified in this Charter, such petition shall remain in force until said ordinance shall be submitted to the voters.

Any number of proposed ordinances under the initiative or the referendum may be voted upon at one election.

There shall not be held under the provisions of this article, more than one special election in any period of six months.

The ballots used when voting upon ordinances proposed under the initiative or under the referendum, shall set forth the title of the proposed ordinance, and shall state its general nature, and shall contain the words, “For the ordinance,” and “Against the ordinance.” If a majority of the votes cast on any ordinance initiated as herein provided, by the electorate of the city, shall be in favor of said ordinance, it shall, if not already in effect, go into effect as a valid ordinance of the city, one day after the official canvass and declaration of the result, unless a later date is provided by the terms of said initiative measure; otherwise such ordinance shall be rejected.

No ordinance, that has been or that may hereafter be adopted by a vote of the electors, shall be amended or repealed except by a vote of the electors.

All matters relating to the form of the ballot and manner of conducting the election shall conform sub-stantially to the requirements set forth in Article XXII with changes as required to comply with the provi-sions of this article and a substantial compliance with the provisions of this article shall be sufficient for the holding of an election hereunder, and the approval or rejection of any measure submitted thereat, and the council shall by ordinance make such further regula-tions as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this article.