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Three different sets of rules decide when you must step away from a vote: the Political Reform Act, a contracts law known by its section number, 1090, and the Levine Act on campaign money.

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A fourth set, the common law of fair hearings, can disqualify you even when none of the others do.

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The Political Reform Act says you may not make, participate in, or influence a decision in which you have a financial interest.

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The state's Fair Political Practices Commission now asks five questions.

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What is the interest?

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Is a financial effect reasonably foreseeable?

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Is it material?

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Is it different from the effect on the public generally?

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And are you actually making or influencing the decision?

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Your home is the interest that catches most officials.

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If a project is within five hundred feet of property you own, the effect is presumed material.

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Between five hundred and one thousand feet, it is material if the decision changes the property's development potential, its value, or the character of the neighborhood.

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Beyond one thousand feet, it is presumed not material.

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Sources of income of five hundred dollars or more in the past year count too, as do gifts above the annual limit, which is six hundred thirty dollars for 2025 and 2026.

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When you must recuse, do it properly.

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Right before the item, say publicly what the interest is.

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For your home, saying it is your residence is enough.

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Then leave the room.

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On a consent calendar you may stay in your seat and abstain.

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Section 1090 is harsher.

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It covers contracts, and it presumes that every member of a body is involved in every contract the body makes.

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So stepping aside usually does not fix the problem: the whole body is barred, the contract is void, and a willful violation is a crime that bars you from office for life.

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The classic trap is a council member who works for a nonprofit that is seeking a city grant.

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Abstaining does not help, because a salaried job is not one of the narrow remote interests the law allows.

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The Levine Act is about campaign money from people with business before you.

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Since 2025, an official covered by it may not accept more than five hundred dollars from a party to a permit, license, entitlement, or non-competitive contract while the matter is pending, or for twelve months after the decision.

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If you did receive more than that in the past twelve months, you must disclose it and step aside, unless you return the excess within thirty days.

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Who is covered depends on your seat.

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A member of a purely advisory commission, with no power over these decisions, is not covered.

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A candidate who holds no decision-making seat is not covered during the campaign.

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But once sworn in, the Act reaches back twelve months, so a large contribution from someone with a pending council matter can cost you a vote on your first day.

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A planning commissioner who runs for council is covered from the start, in both roles.

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Finally, fair hearings.

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On a quasi-judicial item, courts set aside decisions that show an unacceptable probability of actual bias.

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A Hermosa Beach council member was disqualified from voting on a condominium project near his home after he had circulated petitions against the same applicants.

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A Los Angeles planning commissioner's vote was voided because he had secretly written a newsletter article opposing the project.

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A Newport Beach council member could not file an appeal himself and then judge it.

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The protection is simple.

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At the start of each quasi-judicial item, disclose who you talked to about it, when, and what you learned, including any site visit.

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Avoid all contacts between the close of the hearing and the decision.

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And never say in public that you will never approve a project while its application is pending.

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For more, see the legal ground rules section of the Local Official's Handbook.