5,959 / 38.46% Yes votes ...... 9,537 / 61.54% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures

The City Council of the City of Hawthorne, California, does hereby ordain as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 3.40.050 of the Hawthorne Municipal Code is hereby amended as follows.

3.40.050 Tax Imposed

For the privilege of occupancy in any hotel, each transient is subject to a tax in the amount of twelve percent of the rent charged by the operator. The tax constitutes a debt owed by the transient to the city which is extinguished only by payment to the operator or to the city. The transient shall pay the tax to the operator of the hotel at the time the rent is paid. If the rent is paid in installments, a proportionate share of the tax shall be paid with each installment. The unpaid tax shall be due upon the transient's ceasing to occupy space in the hotel. If for any reason the tax due is not paid to the operator of the hotel, the tax administrator may require that such tax shall be paid directly to the tax administrator.

SECTION 2. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The electorate hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, and phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid or unconstitutional.

SECTION 3. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this ordinance and shall cause the same to be published once in a newspaper of general circulation, published and circulated in the City of Hawthorne, California, or if there is none, he shall cause it to be posted in at least three public places in the City of Hawthorne, California