Untitled California Attorney General Opinion

BACKGROUND

The City of California City is a general law city in the County of Kern. 1 It is governed by a city council comprised of five members. 2 The East Kern Health Care District (District) provides services, including property management for medical facilities, within a portion of the City. 3 The District is governed by a five-member board of directors (Board). 4 In general, city councils and healthcare districts have a wide array of governmental powers that they may use to provide services to their constituents. 5

While serving a four-year Board term that began in 2018, Macedonio was elected in November 2020 to serve a four-year term on the City Council. While serving on the Council, Macedonio was re-elected to the Board, and began her current four-year Board term in December 2022.

The City contends that the two offices in question—member of the Council and member of the Board—are legally incompatible under Government Code section 1099, which provides that a public officeholder forfeits office by assuming a second public office that is incompatible with the first, and that the resulting forfeiture of the first office

1 A general law city is one that functions and is…