Last month, the City Council's Rules Committee was tasked with reviewing 17 proposals for measures to be placed on the November 2020 ballot. Six of them survived that process. One of those six was forwarded directly to the full City Council for further consideration. The other five were sent to the City Attorney (or outside legal counsel in one case) for precise ballot language and legal analysis. Those five contestants return to the Rules Committee for a second round of review later today.

They are summarized below. If you'd like more detail, click the agenda, then click on the item. Over on the right side of the page, you'll see a staff report and links to other bits of supporting material, including the City Attorney's draft ballot language.

Rules Committee -- Wednesday, June 10

We'll summarize the five ballot measures in the order they appear on the agenda:

• To make way for new housing and an entertainment district in the Sports Arena area, City Councilmembers Jennifer Campbell and Chris Cate want voters to consider removing the 30-foot coastal height limit for the entirety of the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan area. Under the proposal, no more than five acres in the area would contain buildings taller than 150 feet. No more than five additional acres would contain buildings taller than 80 feet. In the remaining portion of the property, no buildings would be taller than 50 feet. On May 13, the Rules Committee voted unanimously to keep this measure alive.

• Interim City Auditor Kyle Elser wants voters to consider allowing the office of the City Auditor to seek outside legal counsel when it determines that the City Attorney has a conflict of interest. Rather than send this one to the City Attorney's office for analysis, the Rules Committee on May 13 voted 3-2 to keep it alive and send it to outside legal counsel.

• A group known as Neighborhoods for Clean Elections wants voters to consider creating a voluntary program of public financing for candidates in mayoral, city attorney, and City Council elections. Under the proposal, the City would put at least $4 per resident of San Diego (roughly $5.7 million) into a clean elections fund that qualified candidates who opt in to the program may use to run their campaign. No source of funding is identified. On May 13, the Rules Committee voted 3-2 to keep this measure alive.

• A group known as More Choice San Diego wants voters to consider creating a new way to elect the mayor, city attorney, and City Council members. Under the proposal, voters in the primary election would send the top four candidates, rather than the current top two, to the general election. Then, in the general election, voters would rank those four candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first-place votes, the candidate with the least number of votes is considered defeated and those voters who chose her or him as their first choice are instantaneously transferred to their second-choice candidate. That process of elimination is repeated until a candidate has a majority of the vote.

On May 13, the Rules Committee voted 3-2 to keep this measure alive and asked for analysis of whether elections for members of the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education should be added to it. At today's meeting, the City Attorney will provide that analysis before the measure is batted around by the committee.

• To keep up with changes in state law and to make sure the City of San Diego is eligible for sources of state funding, the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council wants voters to consider getting rid of the City's ban on project labor agreements in construction jobs. On May 13, the Rules Committee voted 3-2 to keep this measure alive.

In each of these cases, the Rules Committee will vote either to kill the measure dead or send it to the full City Council to decide whether to place it on the ballot.

Today's meeting begins at 2 p.m. Sorry, due to COVID-19, only City staff and credentialed members of the press may attend in person. However, anyone can participate and make comments by dialing 619-541-6310 and entering the access code 877861 followed by # when the item you're interested in comes up (full call-in instructions). Watch the meeting on cable TV channel 24 or AT&T channel 99, or stream it online.

Next up: a post on the City Council's June 16 regular meeting.

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