California makes it easier for lawmakers to live outside of their districts

California lawmakers will have an easier time living outside the districts they represent in future sessions.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday signed Senate Bill 1250, which addresses decades of dispute over where the state’s 120 legislators are allowed to live when holding office by loosening the legal standard for determining their primary residence.

Elected officials in California must be eligible to vote for the office they seek, so lawmakers are required to maintain a primary residence in their district and be registered to vote there.

Under SB 1250, the addresses listed on their voter registration will be accepted as their residence for eligibility purposes, as long as they actually lived at that location for an unspecified period of time.

The bill prohibits prosecutors from using certain evidence to establish that a lawmaker’s primary residence is somewhere else, including owning or renting a residence outside the district; paying for household insurance, utilities or other services for a home outside the district; or having children enrolled in an out-of-district school.

Some lawmakers objected to SB 1250, arguing that it would enable legislators to move away from their districts to wealthier areas. But the bill passed overwhelmingly last month, with several women lawmakers speaking out about how it would allow them to bring their children to Sacramento during the legislative session.

The measure was carried by Sen. Steve Bradford, a Gardena Democrat who represents the area once served by Rod Wright. In 2014, Wright was convicted of felony perjury and voting fraud charges for living outside the district where he ran in 2008; he later resigned from the Legislature and spent 71 minutes in jail.