The Orange County Board of Supervisors will not hear state Attorney General Rob Bonta’s opinion on the timing of recent district boundary changes, despite a request from Supervisor Katrina Foley.
Orange County draws new district lines based on census data every 10 years to balance changes in population numbers in the county. In November, the board approved the new map based on 2020 census data and adopted it in January.
Foley—whose District 2 has completely changed from the north coast region to central Orange County by the redistricting—questioned why the county implemented the new boundaries immediately, considering that 2022 is an election year.
Foley introduced a motion last month to direct the county counsel’s office to seek an opinion from Bonta on the matter, but the motion died during a May 10 board meeting when it failed to receive a second from fellow supervisors.
Ahead of the vote, Foley pointed out that she lost 100 percent of the constituents who voted her into the office, and Supervisor Andrew Do lost about 50 percent of his original constituents. Meanwhile, for the other supervisors, the changes remained relatively insignificant.
“It’s disenfranchising the voters who elected me to represent their area,” Foley said before the vote. “It would not be American and democratic for a board majority to be able to ... assign a board member to an area where they were not elected to and disenfranchise the voters who elected that person to serve.”
Foley was elected to District 2 during a March 2021 special election to replace Supervisor Michelle Steel, who was elected to Congress.
She said she brought the issue up for formal discussion because she had projects underway in her old district that “are now being hindered from completing on behalf of the residents and the businesses that elected [her].”
The board has held several discussions this year to discourage supervisors from spending district funds on areas outside their district lines.
In the motion, Foley argued that the timing of the new map implementation violated California’s Fair Maps Act, which states that the term of any city councilor whose term has not yet expired shall not be affected by any change in boundaries.
The supervisor also cited a December 2021 opinion by Bonta regarding a vacancy on the San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors, which stated that “the plain text of elections code 21506 excludes special elections from the general rule and that the new district boundaries shall apply to in elections after redistricting.”
County Counsel Leon Page disputed Foley’s interpretation of these laws at the board meeting, pointing out that the county has previously adopted newly redrawn maps in 2000 and 2011.
This year, three board seats are up for election—Districts 2, 4, and 5. Foley is currently seeking election in District 5, which covers parts of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, where Foley’s original district was.
Requests for comment from Foley and Bonta were not returned by press deadline.
