SEC. 13.101. TERMS OF ELECTIVE OFFICE.
§ 13.101
Elected city officials take office at noon on January 8 following their election. Most officials are elected in either 2024 or 2022 and every four years thereafter, except Board of Supervisors members (governed separately). A one-time exception extended the 2020 term of Mayor, City Attorney, District Attorney, Sheriff, and Treasurer to five years (ending January 8, 2025), with that extended term counting as a single term for term-limit purposes.
When you elect a city official, they start their job at noon on January 8 after the election. Most city leaders—the Mayor, Sheriff, District Attorney, City Attorney, and Treasurer—are elected every four years in 2024 and beyond. Other officials like the Assessor-Recorder and Public Defender are elected in 2022 and every four years after that. School board and community college board members are split between these two election cycles. Board of Supervisors elections follow different rules. As a one-time exception, the officials elected in 2020 stayed in office for five years instead of the usual four, and that five-year term counts as just one term if there are limits on how many terms they can serve.
- Complex:The section coordinates multiple election cycles, exempts Board of Supervisors to another section, and includes a non-standard five-year term exception that requires cross-reference to Section 3.101 term limits to fully understand.
- Controversial:The one-time five-year extension in subsection (c) is a deliberate departure from regular four-year cycles and affects term limits; such charter amendments are often subject to public debate about fairness and process.
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Official text
(a) Except in the case of an appointment or election to fill a vacancy, the term of office of each elected officer shall commence at noon on the eighth day of January following the date of the election.
(b) Subject to the applicable provisions of Section 13.102, the elected officers of the City and County, and members of the Board of Education and of the Governing Body of the Community College District, shall be elected as follows:
(1) The following officials shall be elected at the general municipal election in 2024 and every fourth year thereafter: Mayor, Sheriff, District Attorney, City Attorney, Treasurer, four members of the Board of Education, and four members of the Governing Board of the Community College District.
(2) The following officials shall be elected at the general municipal election in 2022 and every fourth year thereafter: Assessor-Recorder, Public Defender, three members of the Board of Education, and three members of the Governing Board of the Community College District.
(3) The election and terms of office of members of the Board of Supervisors shall be governed by Section 13.110.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Charter, including Section 3.101, the term of office for Mayor, City Attorney, District Attorney, Sheriff, and Treasurer that began at noon on January 8, 2020 shall end at noon on January 8, 2025. This five-year term for the office of Mayor shall be deemed a single term for the purposes of term limits under Section 3.101.
(Amended November 1996; March 2002; Proposition E, Approved 11/8/2005; Proposition D, Approved 11/6/2012; Proposition H, Approved 11/8/2022)