Huntington Beach Charter Reform

Last updated August 29 2009

The City of Huntington Beach is about to proceed with the first major charter revision since 1978.  The city council has appointed a 15-member Charter Review Commission that will be tasked with proposing a new charter.  It is expected that this commission will begin its work later this summer with the intent of producing a new charter to be voted on in the November 2010 general election.  After the commission submits the new charter to the city council, the council will be able to make additional modifications prior to placing it onto the ballot.

The goal of this page is to provide unbiased tools to allow the citizens of Huntington Beach to participate in a fully informed manner during the coming process.  I, Mark Bixby, have skimmed through every charter on this page and in the process of doing so discovered many progressive innovations that would greatly benefit the citizens of Huntington Beach.  I strongly urge other people with intense interest in charter reform to similarly skim through every charter -- it is time well-spent.

All California Charters

The table below contains links to the charters of all California charter cities.  The "Searchable Charter" column links to the bixby.org PDF copy of the charters which may have been reformatted and/or OCR-ed to facilitate keyword searching.  The "Official Charter" column links to the official city-hosted or codifier-hosted version of the charters.

(search all California charters)
Or download all searchable charters (82MB) for searching with Adobe Reader's "Search all PDF documents in..." feature (open Full Reader Search by clicking the down arrow to the right of the "Find" box, or type Shift+Ctrl+F).

Searching via Google and searching via Acrobat Reader both have their plusses and minuses.  Some searches may be better suited for one method instead of the other.  The Google search button above only searches through the "Searchable Charters" below.

See the bottom of this page for additional search tools that may be helpful to somebody participating in charter reform.

Searchable Charter
 Official Web Site
 Official Charter
Adelanto http://adelantoca.govoffice2.com/ http://www.amlegal.com/adelanto_ca/
Alameda http://www.ci.alameda.ca.us/ http://www.ci.alameda.ca.us/gov/city_charter.html
Albany http://www.albanyca.org/ http://clerkshq.com/default.ashx?clientsite=albany-ca
Alhambra http://www.cityofalhambra.org/ http://www.amlegal.com/alhambra_ca/
Anaheim http://www.anaheim.net/ http://www.anaheim.net/docs_agend/charter.pdf
Arcadia http://www.ci.arcadia.ca.us/home/index.asp http://www.ci.arcadia.ca.us/docs/170456102008city_charter.pdf
Bakersfield http://www.bakersfieldcity.us/index.htm http://www.qcode.us/codes/bakersfield/
Berkeley http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Home.aspx http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=10776
Big Bear Lake http://www.citybigbearlake.com/ http://www.citybigbearlake.com/cityGovt/documents/CityCharter_000.pdf
Buena Park http://www.buenapark.com/ http://www.buenapark.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=609
Burbank http://www.ci.burbank.ca.us/ http://www.ci.burbank.ca.us/cityclerk/bmc%20-%20reorganized/Charter.pdf
Carlsbad http://www.carlsbadca.gov/ http://www.carlsbadconnected.com/#carlsbads-approved-charter-7a1de
Cerritos http://www.ci.cerritos.ca.us/ http://www.ci.cerritos.ca.us/citygov/City_Charter.pdf
Chico http://www.chico.ca.us/ http://www.chico.ca.us/document_library/municode/Charter.pdf
Chula Vista http://www.chulavistaca.gov/ http://www.chulavistaca.gov/City_Services/Administrative_Services/City_Clerk/PDFs/CVCharter.pdf
Compton http://www.comptoncity.org/ http://www.comptoncity.org/index.php/City-Clerk/city-charter.html
Culver City http://www.ci.culver-city.ca.us/ http://www.amlegal.com/culvercity_ca/
Cypress http://www.ci.cypress.ca.us/ http://www.ci.cypress.ca.us/administration/cypress_charter.pdf
Del Mar http://www.delmar.ca.us/ http://www.delmar.ca.us/Government/Municipal%20Code/CityCharter.pdf
Desert Hot Springs http://www.desert-hot-springs.us/ http://www.qcode.us/codes/deserthotsprings/
Dinuba http://www.dinuba.org/ http://www.dinuba.org/pdf/city%20charter.pdf
Downey http://www.downeyca.org/ http://www.downeyca.org/city_charter.pdf
Eureka http://www.ci.eureka.ca.gov/ http://www.amlegal.com/eureka_ca/
Exeter http://www.cityofexeter.com/ CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA SNAIL-MAIL
Folsom http://www.folsom.ca.us/ http://www.folsom.ca.us/depts/city_clerk/charter.asp
Fortuna http://friendlyfortuna.com/ http://www.codepublishing.com/ca/fortuna/
Fresno http://www.fresno.gov/ http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=14478&sid=5
Gilroy http://www.cityofgilroy.org/cityofgilroy/ http://www.cityofgilroy.org/cityofgilroy_files/city_hall/COG-AmendedCharter_03-16-2009.pdf
Glendale http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/ http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/gmc/charter.asp
Grass Valley http://www.cityofgrassvalley.com/ http://www.cityofgrassvalley.com/services/resources/municodes/Title_99/01/010.html
Hayward http://www.hayward-ca.gov/ http://www.hayward-ca.gov/about/pdf/CHARTER.pdf
Huntington Beach http://www.surfcity-hb.org/ http://www.surfcity-hb.org/Government/charter_codes/city_charter.cfm
Indian Wells http://www.cityofindianwells.org/ CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL
Industry http://www.cityofindustry.org/index2.asp CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL
Inglewood http://www.cityofinglewood.org/default.asp http://www.cityofinglewood.org/depts/cityclerks/city_charter.asp
Irvine http://www.ci.irvine.ca.us/ http://www.ci.irvine.ca.us/cityhall/cityclerk/city_charter.asp
Irwindale http://irwindale.ca.us/home.html http://irwindale.ca.us/municipal_code/
Kingsburg http://www.cityofkingsburg-ca.gov/ http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=16082&sid=5
La Quinta http://www.la-quinta.org/ http://qcode.us/codes/laquinta/
Lemoore http://www.lemoore.com/default.html CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL
Lindsay http://www.lindsay.ca.us/ CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA SNAIL-MAIL
Loma Linda http://www.ci.loma-linda.ca.us/ http://municipalcodes.lexisnexis.com/codes/lomalinda/
Long Beach http://www.longbeach.gov/ http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=16854&sid=5
Los Alamitos http://www.ci.los-alamitos.ca.us/ http://qcode.us/codes/losalamitos/
Los Angeles http://www.ci.la.ca.us/ http://www.amlegal.com/library/ca/losangeles.shtml
Marina http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/ http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/documents/City%20Clerk/MarinaCityCharter.PDF
Marysville http://www.marysville.ca.us/ http://www.codepublishing.com/CA/marysville/
Merced http://www.ci.merced.ca.us/ http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=16096&sid=5
Modesto http://www.ci.modesto.ca.us/ http://www.ci.modesto.ca.us/ccl/municode/
Monterey http://www.monterey.org/ http://www.codepublishing.com/ca/monterey/
Mountain View http://www.ci.mtnview.ca.us/ http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=16508&sid=5
Napa http://www.cityofnapa.org/ http://74.205.120.199/images/cityclerk/charter.pdf
Needles http://www.cityofneedles.com/index.asp CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA SNAIL-MAIL
Newport Beach http://www.city.newport-beach.ca.us/ http://www.codepublishing.com/CA/NewportBeach/
Norco http://www.ci.norco.ca.us/ http://www.ci.norco.ca.us/depts/city_clerk/city_charter.asp
Oakland http://www.oaklandnet.com/ http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=16308&sid=5
Oroville http://www.cityoforoville.org/ http://63.195.12.146/citycode/index.html
Pacific Grove http://www.ci.pg.ca.us/ http://nt2.scbbs.com/cgi-bin/om_isapi.dll?clientID=461048761&hitsperheading=on&infobase=procode-4&record={77007DA1}&softpage=Document42
Palm Desert http://www.cityofpalmdesert.org/ http://www.cityofpalmdesert.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=23
Palm Springs http://www.ci.palm-springs.ca.us/ http://www.qcode.us/codes/palmsprings/
Palo Alto http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/ http://www.amlegal.com/library/ca/paloalto.shtml
Pasadena http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/ http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=16551&sid=5
Petaluma http://cityofpetaluma.net/ http://www.codepublishing.com/ca/petaluma.html
Piedmont http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/ http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/html/city_charter/charter.pdf
Placentia http://placentia.org/ http://municipalcodes.lexisnexis.com/codes/placentia/
Pomona http://www.ci.pomona.ca.us/ http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=13712&sid=5
Port Hueneme http://www.ci.port-hueneme.ca.us/ CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL
Porterville http://www.ci.porterville.ca.us/ http://www.sterlingcodifiers.com/CA/Porterville/index.htm
Rancho Mirage http://www.ci.rancho-mirage.ca.us/index.php http://www.amlegal.com/ranchomirage_ca/
Redondo Beach http://www.redondo.org/default.asp http://www.qcode.us/codes/redondobeach/
Redwood City http://www.redwoodcity.org/index.asp http://www.redwoodcity.org/government/charter.html
Richmond http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/ http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=16579&sid=5
Riverside http://www.riversideca.gov/ http://www.riversideca.gov/municode/city-charter.asp
Roseville http://www.roseville.ca.us/ http://qcode.us/codes/roseville/
Sacramento http://www.cityofsacramento.org/ http://www.qcode.us/codes/sacramento/
Salinas http://www.ci.salinas.ca.us/ http://municipalcodes.lexisnexis.com/codes/salinas/
San Bernardino http://www.sbcity.org/ http://www.sbcity.org/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=2375
San Diego http://www.sandiego.gov/ http://www.sandiego.gov/city-clerk/officialdocs/legisdocs/charter.shtml
San Francisco http://www.sfgov.org/ http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=14130&sid=5
San Jose http://www.sanjoseca.gov/ http://www.sanjoseca.gov/clerk/charter.asp
San Leandro http://www.ci.san-leandro.ca.us/ http://qcode.us/codes/sanleandro/
San Luis Obispo http://www.slocity.org/ http://www.slocity.org/cityclerk/download/City%20Charter%202008.pdf
San Marcos http://www.ci.san-marcos.ca.us/ http://www.ci.san-marcos.ca.us/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=243
San Mateo http://www.ci.sanmateo.ca.us/ http://www.ci.sanmateo.ca.us/index.asp?nid=861
San Rafael http://www.cityofsanrafael.org/ http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=16610&sid=5
San Ramon http://www.ci.san-ramon.ca.us/ http://www.ci.san-ramon.ca.us/clerk/charter.htm
Sand City http://www.sandcity.org/ CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL
Santa Ana http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/ http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=14452&sid=5
Santa Barbara http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/ http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/Government/Ordinances/Charter/
Santa Clara http://santaclaraca.gov/ http://santaclaraca.gov/about_us/au_article_I.html
Santa Cruz http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/ http://www.codepublishing.com/ca/santacruz/
Santa Maria http://www.ci.santa-maria.ca.us/ http://www.ci.santa-maria.ca.us/CityCharter.pdf
Santa Monica http://www.smgov.net/ http://www.qcode.us/codes/santamonica/
Santa Rosa http://www.ci.santa-rosa.ca.us/ http://www.ci.santa-rosa.ca.us/departments/cityadmin/cityclerk/Pages/CityCharter.aspx
Santee http://www.ci.santee.ca.us/ http://qcode.us/codes/santee/
Seal Beach http://www.ci.seal-beach.ca.us/ http://pubrec.ci.seal-beach.ca.us/weblink7/docview.aspx?id=14581
Shafter http://www.shafter.com/ CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL
Signal Hill http://www.cityofsignalhill.org/ http://www.cityofsignalhill.org/city_clerk/city_charter.php
Solvang http://www.cityofsolvang.com/ http://www.cityofsolvang.com/index.php/city-charter
Stockton http://www.stocktongov.com/ http://qcode.us/codes/stockton/
Sunnyvale http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/ http://qcode.us/codes/sunnyvale/
Temple City http://www.templecity.us/ http://www.sterlingcodifiers.com/CA/Temple%20City/index.htm
Torrance http://www.ci.torrance.ca.us/ http://municipalcodes.lexisnexis.com/codes/torrance/
Truckee http://www.townoftruckee.com/ CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL
Tulare http://www.ci.tulare.ca.us/ http://www.ci.tulare.ca.us/public_documents/municipal_code.htm
Vallejo http://www.ci.vallejo.ca.us/ http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=16106&sid=5
Ventura http://www.cityofventura.net/ http://www.cityofventura.net/city_manager/city_clerk/charter
Vernon http://www.cityofvernon.org/index1.htm CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA SNAIL-MAIL
Victorville http://ci.victorville.ca.us/ CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL
Visalia http://www.ci.visalia.ca.us/ http://www.amlegal.com/library/ca/visalia.shtml
Vista http://www.cityofvista.com/ http://www.cityofvista.com/WebLink7/DocView.aspx?id=89525&dbid=1
Watsonville http://www.ci.watsonville.ca.us/ http://www.ci.watsonville.ca.us/departments/clerk/CHARTER2006.pdf
Whittier http://www.whittierch.org/ http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=16695&sid=5
Woodlake http://www.cityofwoodlake.com/home.asp CHARTER NOT ONLINE - RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL

Additional Search Tools

The following Google Custom Search Engines can be used to search the city's official web site according to various subject matter groupings that help to avoid false hits:

Huntington Beach City Web Site

 (the entire official city web site)

Huntington Beach Charter, Municipal Code, and Zoning Code

Huntington Beach Planning Department Agendas & Minutes

 (Planning Commission, Zoning Administrator, Design Review Board, Environmental Assessment Committee)
Got suggestions for additional search engines?  Let me know.