the State Bar or served as a judge of a court of record in this State according to Section 15 of Article VI of the California Constitution.
3. School District Offices:
Community College Districts: o
•
Qualifications: Any person, regardless of sex, who is 18 years of age or older, a citizen of the state, a resident of the community college district, a registered voter, and who is not disqualified by the Constitution or laws of the state from holding a civil office, is eligible to be elected or appointed a member of a governing board of a community college district without further qualifications per Education Code §72103.
4. City and Town Offices
• Candidates should consult with the individual cities or towns for specific candidacy qualifications.
In addition to the above qualifications, California Election Law prescribes that no person may be elected to any state or local office if that person has been convicted of a felony involving accepting, giving, or offering to give any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion, or theft of public money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes. (Cal. Elec. Code §20)
Notice to Candidates Regarding Incompatible Offices
The Political Reform Act does not prohibit a person from holding multiple public offices either within a single agency or different agencies. In addition, there are no provisions of the Act that preclude a person from seeking more than one elective office in a single election, or from serving in more than one elective office at any one time. Government Code §1099 codifies the common law prohibition against the holding of “incompatible offices.” This doctrine restricts the ability of a public officer to hold two different public offices simultaneously if the offices have overlapping and conflicting public duties. For this section to apply, each position must be a “public office.” (Gov. Code §1099(c)). Pursuant to Government Code §1099, a person may not simultaneously hold two public offices if: either of the offices exercises a supervisory, auditing, or removal power over the other office or body; there is a significant clash of duties or loyalties between the offices; or there are public policy considerations that make it improper. The consequence of holding an incompatible office is that the person is “deemed to have forfeited the first office upon acceding to the second” (Gov. Code §1099(b)). In addition, the California Constitution has provisions addressing the holding of two government positions. The State of California Attorney General's office has issued numerous opinions on the subject, which are available on the Attorney General’s website. If you have a question about whether two public offices you hold or seek to hold would be considered
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