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# VERITAS educational forum at Civic Center
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/veritas-educational-forum-at-civic-center/
- Published: 2002-10-10T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:46:59.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

The Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a VERITAS, also known as Measure HH on the Nov. 5 ballot, educational forum on Oct. 16 at 7:30-8:30 p.m. in the east wing of the Civic Center.

The moderator of the event will be Bill Rosendahl, vice president of political affairs at Adelphia Cable. Pro-VERITAS speakers will be the initiative’s author, Paul De Santis as well as Councilman Robert Holbrook. Anti-VERITAS speakers will be Mayor Mike Feinstein and Councilman Herb Katz. The forum is free and open to the public.

The chamber of commerce neither supports nor opposes the VERITAS initiative. This measure would significantly change city charter provisions governing city council elections, the powers of the mayor and the process for adopting municipal legislation.

The measure would create a new position of elected mayor, elected city-wide. The mayor would preside over and participate in council meetings, but would usually not vote. The mayor would vote only in case of a tie, or if the vote concerned removal of the city manager or city attorney.

The mayor’s most significant power would be to veto ordinances adopted by the council.

If the Office of Mayor was vacated, the council would be required to call an election within 90 days. If no candidate received more than 50 percent of the votes, there would be a runoff between the two candidates receiving the most votes.

The measure would significantly change the process for adopting ordinances. Every newly adopted ordinance would be presented to the mayor for approval. The mayor could veto the ordinance by providing a written statement of objections.

Currently, regular ordinances go to the council twice, require four votes at both of the council meetings and take effect 30 days after the second vote. However, ordinances designated as “emergency ordinances” require five votes, need only go the council once and become effective immediately upon adoption. The veto and override process in the proposed measure could lengthen the time necessary to adopt regular ordinances and significantly lengthen the time necessary to adopt emergency ordinances.

The process for electing council members would also be significantly altered. Council members would be elected from districts and would be subject to term limits. There would be a primary held on the date of the state primary. If no council candidate received a majority of votes in a district, there would be a November runoff for the two candidates receiving the most votes.

There would be seven districts with one council member representing one.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 10, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/101002.pdf?ref=smdp.com)