Civil appeals: stay of enforcement.

Assembly Member Ávila Farías proposes modifying California's civil procedure rules to prevent automatic stays of court orders that address violations of state voting rights and redistricting laws. The legislation targets cases where courts find violations of either the California Voting Rights Act's provisions on at-large voting methods or the FAIR MAPS Act's requirements for election district boundaries.

Under current law, appealing a court order automatically stays its enforcement. The proposed changes would allow courts to implement remedial measures immediately in voting rights and redistricting cases, even while appeals are pending. The bill creates a specific exception where enforcement can still be stayed if both the Attorney General and Secretary of State certify that a delay either advances the purposes of the relevant voting laws or maintains orderly election administration.

The bill's findings note that hundreds of jurisdictions have adopted district-based elections since the California Voting Rights Act passed in 2001. The authors assert that vote dilution and gerrymandering cause irreparable harm when elections proceed under systems that courts have found likely violate state law. The legislation aims to prevent appeals from delaying implementation of court-ordered changes to election systems that protect minority voting rights.