Correspondence - #28 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Orange County contributed $10.5 billion in taxes in 2018.3 Santa Ana is home to the largest share of noncitizen residents in all of Orange County cities, and nearly 20 percent of the county's noncitizen resident population resides in Santa Ana." 4 Noncitizens make up a large percentage of the City's residents -they cannot be excluded from City elections any longer. The City has passed model policies to increase the participation of its noncitizen residents in the City's civic business. These policies resulted in the City's Sanctuary City designation in 2016, the creation of a Deportation Defense Fund in 2017, and an amendment to the City's Municipal Code that allowed noncitizens to serve on any City Board, Commission, and Committee in 2021. These policy efforts have been met with great support from community members, charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, and more; and the case was no different when the Council discussed extending voting rights to noncitizens in 2022. In 2022, members of the Council expressed concern with the legality of noncitizen voting. That concern has been addressed as the First District Court of Appeal (Court) made it clear that charter cities have the authority to expand voting in local elections to its noncitizen residents. The Court stated that "neither the plain language of the Constitution nor its history prohibits legislation expanding the electorate to noncitizens. , 5 The Court also reaffirmed the strength of charter amendments that allow noncitizen voting, when passed as a ballot measure by the electorate. These affirmations of legality and authority should propel the Council to take action now. We applaud this proactive effort to make voting accessible to everyone. The City must continue to serve as a model for inclusion and democracy. For these reasons, Chispa urges you to provide direction to the City Manager and City Attorney to return with options to place this issue on the November 2024 ballot, and amend the City's Charter to allow non-citizen voting. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Isuri S. amos Deputy Director 3 American Immigration Council,"Map the Impact,"accessed September 3,2023, https://data.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/map-the-impact/ 4 United States Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimate,2021. 5 James V. Lacy v. City and County of San Francisco,165899,Cal.App.2023. 2