CHARTER ARTICLE XIV. THE REFERENDUM

No ordinance passed by the Council shall go into effect before thirty days from the time of its final passage except when otherwise required by the general laws of the State or by the provisions of this Charter respecting street improvements, and except the ordinance making the annual tax levy, and except an ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, which contains a statement of its urgency, and is passed by a seven-ninths (7/9) vote of the Council, provided, that no grant of any franchise shall be construed to be an urgency measure, but all franchises shall be subject to the referendum vote herein provided. If during said thirty days a petition signed by qualified electors of the City equal in number to at least ten percent of the entire vote cast for all candidates for Mayor at the last preceding general municipal election at which a Mayor was elected, protesting against the passage of such ordinance, be presented to the Council, the same shall thereupon be suspended from going into operation and it shall be the duty of the Council to reconsider such ordinance, and if the same be not entirely repealed, the council shall submit the ordinance, as is provided in Article XIII of the Charter, to the vote of the electors of the city, at the next occurring regular statewide or general or special municipal election providing no posting, publication or other legal deadline as set forth in the California Elections Code and Government Code, has expired at the time the City Clerk reports verification of the petition to the City Council, and such ordinance shall not go into effect or become operative unless a majority of the qualified electors voting on the same shall vote in favor thereof. The provisions of Article III respecting the forms and conditions of the petition and the mode of verification and certification and filing shall be substantially followed with such modification as the nature of the case requires.

Any ordinance or measure that the Council or the qualified electors of the City shall have authority to enact, the Council may of its own motion submit to the electors for adoption or rejection at a regular statewide or general or special municipal election, in the same manner and with the same force and effect as is provided in this Charter for ordinances or measures submitted on petition. At any such election there shall be no bar to the submission of other questions to a vote of the electors in addition to the ordinance or measures herein provided for, if said other questions are such as may legally be submitted at such election. If the provisions of two or more measures approved or adopted at the same election conflict then the measure receiving the highest affirmative vote shall control.

The Council may, by ordinance, make such further regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Article, and to adapt the provisions of Article III thereto.

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City Clerk Department
2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, California 94704
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