Prince George's County Council - Reference No. CB-048-2022

• Reference No.: CB-048-2022
• Draft No.: 2
• Type: Council Bill
• Status: Enacted
• Meeting Body: County Council
• Meeting Date: 7/5/2022
• Introduced Date: 6/7/2022
• Public Hearing Date: 07/05/2022 @ 10:00 AM
• Effective date: 12/1/2022
• Title: AN ACT CONCERNING AMENDMENT OF SECTION 307, CHARTER OF PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY for the purpose of proposing an amendment to Section 307 of the Charter of Prince George’s County to provide that an at-large Council member shall have been a qualified voter of Prince George’s County for at least one year immediately preceding their general election; to provide that Council members representing one of the nine Council districts shall have been a qualified voter of their respective Council district for at least one year immediately preceding their general election; and to provide that in an election year immediately following an approved decennial redistricting plan changing the boundaries of any Council district, the one year residency requirement immediately preceding the general election shall not apply if a person is deemed a qualified voter but no longer resides in their former Council district because of a boundary change in the approved decennial redistricting plan. Such person shall ...
• Proposers/Sponsors: Dannielle M. Glaros, Calvin S. Hawkins, Sydney J. Harrison, Todd M. Turner, Thomas E. Dernoga, Rodney C. Streeter, Johnathan M. Medlock, Edward P. Burroughs
• Code sections: CHARTER-0307 - Qualifications and Restrictions.
• Contact: Kathy Canning, Legislative Officer

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
7/5/2022	2	County Council	public hearing held
7/5/2022	2	County Council	enacted	Pass
6/7/2022	2	County Council	introduced
5/31/2022	1	County Council	presented and referred
5/31/2022	1	Sitting as the Committee of the Whole	Favorably recommended with amendments	Pass

Title

AN ACT CONCERNING AMENDMENT OF SECTION 307, CHARTER OF PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY for the purpose of proposing an amendment to Section 307 of the Charter of Prince George’s County to provide that an at-large Council member shall have been a qualified voter of Prince George’s County for at least one year immediately preceding their general election; to provide  that Council members representing one of the nine Council districts shall have been a qualified voter of their respective Council district for at least one year immediately preceding their general election; and to provide that in an election year immediately following an approved decennial redistricting plan changing the boundaries of any Council district, the one year residency requirement immediately preceding the general election shall not apply if a person is deemed a qualified voter but no longer resides in their former Council district because of a boundary change in the approved decennial redistricting plan. Such person shall have resided in their former Council district for at least one year immediately preceding their general election and shall reside in the same Council district as changed in the approved decennial redistricting plan by the deadline for filing a certificate of candidacy; and generally regarding Council member election and residency requirements.

Background

This is a Charter Amendment bill that amends Section 307, Charter of Prince George's County regarding qualifications and restrictions of Council members.  It directly pertains to residency requirements.   It provides that at an at-large Council member shall have been a qualified voter of Prince George’s County for at least one year immediately preceding their general election; and that Council members representing one of the nine Council districts shall have been a qualified voter of their respective Council district for at least one year immediately preceding their general election. The Charter Amendment bill changes "primary election" to "general election" to make it conform to the election cycle. It provides that except that a person is deemed a qualified voter to serve as a Council member representing one of the nine Council districts if the boundaries of the Council districts that the person has been chosen to represent were redrawn in a decennial redistricting plan less than one year prior to the date of the person’s general election and the person shall have resided in the Council district as of the date of filing a certificate of candidacy.

NOTE: SUBJECT TO REFERENDUM