PEOPLE EX REL. KERR v. County of Orange

I. Introduction

The majority of California’s 58 counties do not have charters. In those counties, the structure of county government is laid out in various statutes enacted by the Legislature and found in the state Government Code. Thirteen counties, not counting Orange County, do have charters, in which the structure of county government is provided for in the charter itself, subject to certain restrictions in the California Constitution and state statutes.

Orange County is the 14th county with its own charter. However, its charter, adopted with the passage of Measure V in the March 2002 Primary Election, is atypical. It is very short—so short, in fact, that we can quote all of it in a single footnote. Its brevity is the result of a wholesale incorporation of the general laws of the State of California except as otherwise expressly provided for by the charter, and the charter has only one provision deviating from the general laws of California—the manner of filling a vacancy in the county board of supervisors. Without this charter, the Governor would fill any vacancy. (Gov. Code, § 25060 [“Whenever a vacancy occurs in any board of supervisors, the Governor shall fill…