Sunnyvale committee prioritizes gender-neutral drafting as charter review begins

Committee members placed early emphasis on making the Sunnyvale City Charter gender-neutral and clarified how those edits should be drafted for voter review.

Member Vickrey, who raised the Uniform Laws Commission's drafting guidance, told the committee that the commission "has a specific rule, which is, use gender gender neutral language. And the next sentence is don't use pronouns. The way to avoid, having to deal with what pronouns to use is not to use them." The committee discussed two ways to implement that guidance: replace gendered pronouns with role names (for example, "the mayor" instead of "he or she") or remove pronouns entirely and identify actors explicitly.

Staff said a red-lined gender-neutral version had been on the November ballot; the proposed changes replaced many pronouns with the relevant office or role. Committee members and staff noted that any language changes would need to be packaged for voters, and editorial or modernization edits still require voter approval.

Why it matters: Drafting approach affects clarity for voters and the legal precision of charter text. Committee members said precision matters because the charter is the city's constitution and some language choices can change how rules are interpreted.

Discussion and next steps: Members discussed whether to remove pronouns entirely (which some said would make the text drier but more precise) or to substitute role names for pronouns. Staff confirmed it will produce a consolidated red-line and that the committee should expect draft language to review at upcoming meetings. The committee flagged this topic as high priority for tracking and future drafting work.