Government of Sacramento, California

Sacramento City Hall

The Government of Sacramento operates as a charter city (as opposed to a general law city) under the Charter of the City of Sacramento. The elected government is composed of the Sacramento City Council with 8 city council districts and the Mayor of Sacramento, which operate under a mayor-council government. In addition, there are numerous departments and appointed officers such as the City Manager, Sacramento Police Department (SPD), the Sacramento Fire Department (SFD), Community Development Department, City Clerk, City Attorney, and City Treasurer. As of 11 December 2012 the current mayor was Kevin Johnson and the current councillors were Angelique Ashby, Allen Warren, Steve Cohn, Steve Hansen, Jay Schenirer, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong, and Bonnie Pannell.

Organization

Mayor

The Mayor of Sacramento is the presiding officer of the city,[1] and is elected for a four-year term.[2] Under the California Constitution, all judicial, school, county, and city offices, including those of chartered cities, are nonpartisan.[3] The 41st and current Mayor is Kevin Johnson.

City Council

The Sacramento City Council is the governing body of the City of Sacramento. The council is composed of eight members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms.[4][5] The councilmembers as of 8 September 2015 were:

Departments

The Sacramento Police Department (SPD) polices the city of Sacramento.

The Sacramento Fire Department (SFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services for Sacramento.

The Community Development Department is responsible for property development application review, building permits and inspections, code compliance, and long-range planning.

Law

The Charter of the City of Sacramento is the founding document of the Sacramento government. Pursuant to the charter, all legislative power is vested in the Council and is exercised by ordinance subject to a veto by the Mayor. Pursuant to this power, the Council has caused to be promulgated the Sacramento City Code, consisting of codified regulatory and penal ordinances. Every act prohibited or declared unlawful, and every failure to perform an act required, by the ordinances are misdemeanor crimes, unless otherwise specified as infractions.[6]

Other governments

California

Further information: Government of California

The Sacramento County Superior Court, which covers the entire county, is not a County department but a division of the State's trial court system. Historically, the courthouses were county-owned buildings that were maintained at county expense, which created significant friction since the trial court judges, as officials of the state government, had to lobby the county Board of Supervisors for facility renovations and upgrades. In turn, the state judiciary successfully persuaded the state Legislature to authorize the transfer of all courthouses to the state government in 2008 and 2009 (so that judges would have direct control over their own courthouses). Courthouse security is still provided by the county government under a contract with the state.

Sacramento County

Sacramento is also part of Sacramento County, for which the Government of Sacramento County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution, California law, and the Charter of the County of Sacramento.[7] Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of county governments such as the Government of Sacramento County. The County government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, and social services. The County government is primarily composed of the elected five-member Board of Supervisors, several other elected offices including the Sheriff, District Attorney, and Assessor, and numerous county departments and entities under the supervision of the County Executive Officer.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sacramento City Charter, Article IV, § 40
  2. ↑ Sacramento City Charter, Article IV, § 43
  3. ↑ California Constitution, Article II, Section 6
  4. ↑ Sacramento City Charter, Article III, § 22
  5. ↑ Sacramento City Charter, Article III, § 26
  6. ↑ California Government Code § 36900 et seq.
  7. ↑ California Government Code § 23004

External links

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