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ORDINANCE NO. NS-3015 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA AMENDING SECTION 2-105 OF THE SANTA ANA MUNICIPAL CODE TO PROHIBIT ABSTENTIONS UNLESS LEGALLY REQUIRED, TO REQUIRE UNAUTHORIZED ABSTENTIONS TO BE COUNTED AND RECORDED AS A VOTE WITH THE MAJORITY, AND TO DESCRIBE THE CONFLICT DISQUALIFICATION PROCESS THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. The City Council of the City of Santa Ana hereby finds, determines, and declares as follows: A. The City of Santa Ana seeks to ensure that the Mayor and Members of the City Council, elected to carry out the business of the City, act upon all agenda items presented for consideration. B. The California Political Reform Act and regulations promulgated thereunder by the Fair Political Practices Commission require the Mayor and Councilmembers to disclose conflicts of interest, and new rules require disclosure when an elected official is absent for only a portion of a meeting where the member has a conflict on an agenda item. C. If the Mayor or a Councilmember does not have a legally disqualifying conflict of interest, he or she should not be permitted to refrain from voting on an item requiring a vote. D. Since 1952, the Santa Ana Municipal Code has stated in pertinent part that "no member of the council shall abstain from any vote unless disqualified." However, because there is no practical way to enforce this charter provision, the City Council desires to provide that an abstention will be counted and recorded as a "yes" vote. Section 2. Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") and the State CEQA Guidelines, the adoption of this ordinance is exempt from CEQA review pursuant to 14 California Code of Regulations section 15061(b)(3). Section 3. Section 2-105 of Article II (City Council) of Chapter 2 (Administration) of the Santa Ana Municipal Code is hereby amended to read in its entirety as follows: Ordinance No. NS-3015 Page 1 of 4