The legislative powers of the City shall be vested in the City Council and the people through the initiative and referendum.

The City Council shall meet on the Tuesday next suceeding the date of the holding of any general municipal election. (Ratified Spec. Mun. Elec. 10/29/57, Amend. No. 2; Approved by State Legislature Concurrent Res. No. 1 on 2/4/58).

The City Council shall hold regular meetings at least once in each month, at such times as it shall fix by ordinance or resolution, and may adjourn any regular meeting to a date certain, which shall be specified in the order of adjournment, and when so adjourned, each adjourned meeting shall be a regular meeting for all purposes. Any adjourned meeting may likewise be adjourned.

In the event that any order of adjournment of a regular meeting fails to set the hour at which any adjourned meeting is to be held, such adjourned meeting may be validly held on the day specified in the order of adjournment, if held at the hour set forth in the ordinance or resolution prescribing the time for regular meetings.

Special meetings may be called at any time by the Mayor, or by a majority of the members of the City Council, upon compliance with the notice requirements for special meetings prescribed by state law; provided, however, that any special meeting of the City Council shall be a validly called special meeting, without the giving of such written notice, as provided, if all members of the City Council shall give their consent, in writing, to the holding of such meeting, and such consent is on file in the office of the City Clerk at the time of holding such meeting. A telegraphic communication from a Councilman consenting to the holding of the meeting shall be deemed to be a consent in writing, within the meaning of the terms as expressed in the foregoing sentences. At any special meeting the powers of the City Council to transact business shall be limited to matters referred to in such written notice or written consent. (Ratified Gen. Mun. Elec. 3/7/78, Amend. No. 3, Filed with Sec’y of State 3/27/78, Recorded with County Recorder, Los Angeles County 6/20/78).

All regular or special meetings of the City Council shall be held within the corporate limits of the City, at such place as may be designated by ordinance or resolution, and shall be open to the public. If, by reason of fire, flood or other disaster or emergency, it shall be unsafe to hold a Council meeting at the designated place, the City Council may meet during such emergency at such place as is designated by the Mayor or by three members of the City Council. The City Council shall have the right and privilege to hold and conduct its meeting in accordance with an agenda and may specify the matters which shall be considered at each meeting and shall have the right to establish a time at which all communications shall be on file in the Office of the City Clerk in order that such communications may be considered at the next regular meeting of the City Council. (Ratified Gen. Mun. Elec. 4/11/50, Amend No. 5; Approved by State Legislature Concurrent Res. No. 32 on 3/15/51).

At any meeting of the City Council, a majority of said Council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a less number may adjourn from time to time, and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as may be prescribed by ordinance. In the absence of all of the City Council from any regular meeting or adjourned regular meeting the City Clerk may declare the same postponed and adjourned to a stated day and hour, and must thereupon deliver or cause to be delivered personally to each member of the City Council a written notice of such adjournment at least three hours before the time to which said regular or any adjourned regular meeting has been adjourned. Whenever in this Charter a certain proportion of the Council is required for the performance of any act, it shall mean such proportion of the entire membership of the Council.

The City Council shall judge of the qualifications of its members and of all election returns, and determine contested elections of all City officers. It may establish rules for the conduct of its proceedings and punish any member or other person for disorderly behavior at any meeting. It shall have the power and authority to examine witnesses under oath and compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence before it by subpoena. Such subpoenas shall be issued in the name of the City and be attested by the City Clerk. Such subpoenas shall be served by the Chief of Police and the disobedience of such subpoenas, or the refusal to testify, shall constitute a misdemeanor for which prosecution may be had in any court of competent jurisdiction. It shall cause the City Clerk to keep a correct record of all its proceedings and at the desire of any member, the City Clerk shall call the roll, and shall cause the ayes and noes taken on any question to be entered in the record journal.

The enacting clause of all ordinances shall be substantially as follows: ‘The City Council of the City of Torrance does ordain as follows:’ Every ordinance must be signed by the Mayor and attested by the City Clerk.

At the time any ordinance is introduced to the City Council, the City Attorney shall prepare and submit a summary of the said ordinance. Upon adoption of an ordinance, the City Council may determine that the summary of the said ordinance shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation, printed, published and circulated within the City, or that the full ordinance shall be so published. In the event the City Council shall determine that a summary shall be published, it shall approve the summary as submitted or may modify it.
The City Clerk shall thereafter cause either the said ordinance, or the summary thereof approved by the City Council, to be published within fifteen (15) days after its adoption at least once in a newspaper of general circulation, printed, published and circulated within the City. If there is no such newspaper, then each such ordinance must be posted in at least three (3) public places within the City.
In the event the summary is published, the names of the Council Members voting for and against shall be shown. (Ratified Spec. Mun. Elec. 11/8/88, Filed with Sec’y of State 5/1/89).

Any and all ordinances of the City which have been enacted and published in the manner required at the time of their adoption, and which have not been repealed, may be compiled, consolidated, revised, indexed, including such re-statements and substantive changes as may be necessary in the interest of clarity and arranged as a comprehensive ordinance code, and such code may be adopted by reference by the passage of an ordinance for such purpose which ordinance shall be required to be adopted and approved in the manner provided in this Charter for the passage of ordinances of the City. The ordinance code itself need not be published in the manner required for other ordinances, but not less than three (3) copies of such code shall be filed, for use and examination by the public, in the office of the City Clerk, prior to the adoption thereof. After the code has been adopted, all ordinances thereafter adopted shall be amendatory and revisory of the code, and no section of the code shall be revised or amended by reference but the section revised or amended shall be readopted and published at length as revised or amended.

Detailed regulations pertaining to any subject, such as the construction of buildings, plumbing, wiring or other subjects which require extensive regulations, after having been arranged as a comprehensive code, may be adopted by reference by the passage of an ordinance for such purposes; which ordinance may be adopted in the same manner as specified for the adoption of a comprehensive ordinance code.

No ordinance of any kind shall be passed by the City Council on the day of its introduction, nor within five (5) days thereafter, nor at any time other than a regular or adjourned regular meeting. At the time that an ordinance or resolution is up for final passage, it shall be read in full, unless after the reading of the title thereof, the further reading thereof is waived by motion of the City Council regularly made and approved by the unanimous vote of those present. In the event that any ordinance is materially altered after its introduction, the same shall not be finally adopted except at a regular or adjourned regular meeting held not less than five (5) days after the date upon which such ordinance was so altered. The correction of typographical or clerical errors shall not constitute the making of an alteration within the meaning of the foregoing sentence.
No resolution or any order for the payment of money shall have any validity or effect unless passed by the votes of at least four (4) members of the City Council, and no ordinance shall have any validity or effect unless passed by the votes of at least four (4) members of the City Council. (Ratified Spec. Mun. Elec. 10/29/57, Amend. No. 2; Approved by State Legislature Concurrent Res. No. 1 on 2/4/58).

Every act of the City Council establishing a fine or other penalty, or granting a franchise, creating a commission, board or agency, or in any way restricting or governing the use of property, and in addition thereto, every act required by the City Charter to be done by ordinance shall be by ordinance. (Ratified Gen. Mun. Elec. 4/11/50, Amend. No. 6; Approved by State Legislature Concurrent Res. No. 32 on 3/15/51).

No ordinance shall become effective until thirty (30) days from and after the date of its final passage, except an ordinance calling or otherwise relating to an election, or to a street improvement proceeding taken under some law, or ordinance determining the amount of money necessary to be raised by taxation, or fixing the rate of taxes to be levied, or an ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, which contains a declaration of facts constituting its urgency, and is passed by a five-sevenths vote of the City Council. An ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety which contains a declaration of the facts constituting its urgency and is passed as aforesaid, may be introduced and passed at one and the same meeting and the requirement that no less than five (5) days shall intervene between the introduction and final passage shall not apply to such an ordinance. (Ratified Spec. Mun. Elec. 10/29/57, Amend No. 2; Approved by State Legislature Concurrent Res. No. 1 on 2/4/58).

A. A violation of any ordinance of the City may be prosecuted by the authorities of the City either as a misdemeanor or an infraction, as the City Council may determine, in the name of the People of the State of California, or may be redressed by civil action, or both, at the option of said authorities.

B. For any ordinance of the City adopted after the effective date of this amended section, the City Council shall declare at the time of adoption whether the violation of such ordinance shall be a misdemeanor or an infraction or alternatively, a misdemeanor or infraction pursuant to Section 17(d) of the California Penal Code.

C. For each ordinance adopted before the effective date of this amended section, the City Council may determine, by the adoption of an ordinance or ordinances that the violation of any such previously adopted ordinances shall be an infraction, or alternatively a misdemeanor or an infraction pursuant to Section 17(d) of the California Penal Code. (Ratified Gen. Mun. Elec. 3/7/78, Amend. No. 6, Filed with Sec’y of State 3/27/78, Recorded with County Recorder, Los Angeles County 6/20/78). (Ratified Spec. Mun. Elec. 11/8/88, Filed with Sec’y of State May 1, 1989).

The maximum fine or penalty for any violation of an ordinance of this City which is a misdemeanor, shall be the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1000), or a term in the County Jail or in the City Jail for a period not exceeding six (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, or as otherwise provided in Section 36901 of the California Government Code. The maximum fine or penalty for violation of any ordinance of this City which is an infraction, or which is charged as an infraction, shall be provided in Section 36900 of the California Government Code. By ordinance or resolution of the City Council, any persons imprisoned for a violation of any ordinance may be compelled to labor on the streets or other public property or works within the City. (Ratified Spec. Mun. Elec. 11/8/88, Filed with Sec’y of State 5/1/89).