On April 21, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to advance a charter modernization measure that would extend supervisors’ term limits from a maximum of two four-year terms to three four-year terms, totaling 12 years.
The ballot measure includes several other proposed changes to the city charter, which acts as San Diego’s constitution. These changes include allowing supervisors to directly appoint key city government positions, like the city emergency services director and county public health officer, and establishing a separate budget analysis entity for the city.
During the most recent meeting, proposal author and County Supervisor Chair Terra Lawson-Remer discussed the importance of effective fund allocation. She emphasized that this new plan for transparency would help achieve that aim.
“Having an independent analyst who could help us identify where we’re really getting a strong return on our dollars and our investments and help us course correct in real time, as opposed to asking our bureaucracy and our staff to evaluate themselves, would be a huge value add,” Lawson-Remer said.
The county cannot adopt, amend, or repeal its charter without approval from a majority of voters. If this proposal passes the board, San Diegans will vote on the measure in November.
All three Democratic supervisors, Lawson-Remer, Paloma Aguirre, and Monica Montgomery Steppe, have supported this measure since Lawson-Remer introduced it in early April. Both Republican supervisors, Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond, have opposed the action.
Desmond spoke against the measure, arguing that legislation on term limits should be initiated by voters, not placed before them.
“To me, this is one of the most political and self-serving agenda items that I’ve ever seen,” Desmond said in an interview with ABC 10.
During the public comments portion of the meeting, speakers mostly spoke favorably of the measure. The board received over 250 online comments, the majority of which also favored the measure.
One public commenter at the event expressed her support for Lawson-Remer’s proposed changes: “12 years may not be perfect, but it strikes a reasonable balance between experience and preventing long-term entrenchment.”
The measure will be reread and discussed again during a meeting on May 19, at which point another vote will be held. This vote will determine whether it will appear on the ballot in November. If included, the measure will require a simple majority to pass.
