republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-493.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections in cities: by or from districts."
description: "Existing law generally requires all elective city offices, including the members of a city council, to be filled at large by the city electorate at a general municipal election. Existing law, at any municipal election or special election held for this purpose, authorizes the legislative body of a city to submit to the registered voters an ordinance providing for the election of members of the legislative body by district or from district, as defined, and with or without an elective mayor."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 493"
citation: "California SB 493 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections in cities: by or from districts."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cannella"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 20
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2015-02-26"
last_action: "2015-10-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5635bb78-29a5-4bdb-8a38-81f5e2d03613"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB493"
source_hash: "ae42c7cae7ff6bdb157c6592b3697959aa9bc1467bd19d15d9651e6be1ba7149"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 493 (20152016) — Elections in cities: by or from districts.

Existing law generally requires all elective city offices, including the members of a city council, to be filled at large by the city electorate at a general municipal election. Existing law, at any municipal election or special election held for this purpose, authorizes the legislative body of a city to submit to the registered voters an ordinance providing for the election of members of the legislative body by district or from district, as defined, and with or without an elective mayor.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/26/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB493&version=20150SB49399INT)
2. **04/20/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB493&version=20150SB49398AMD)
3. **07/07/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB493&version=20150SB49397AMD)
4. **10/10/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB493&version=20150SB49395CHP)
5. **SB493** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB493)
6. **09/09/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB493&version=20150SB49396ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **29–3** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB493 Cannella Concurrence — **35–4** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Local Government] — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 493 Cannella Senate Third Reading By ALEJO — **62–14** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cannella — primary (person)
- Alejo — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2015-02-26** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2015-02-27** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 29.
- **2015-03-12** Referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-20** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-24** Set for hearing May 6.
- **2015-05-06** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 920.) (May 6). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-18** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 29. Noes 3. Page 1018.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-18** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-28** Referred to Coms. on E. & R. and L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2015-07-06** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 1). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-07-07** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (July 15). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-08-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-04** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 62. Noes 14. Page 2922.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-09-04** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2015-09-08** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 35. Noes 4. Page 2565.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-09-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2015-10-10** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-10-10** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 735, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5635bb78-29a5-4bdb-8a38-81f5e2d03613`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).