San Diego Municipal Code § 27.0605

in effect

§27.0605 (a) The candidate’s designation of principal profession, vocation, or occupation constitutes ballot materials within the meaning of section 27.0103. (b) If a candidate desires their principal profession, vocation, or occupation to be printed on the ballot, the candidate shall file with the City Clerk a statement indicating their designation of principal profession, vocation, or occupation. Except as provided in section 27.0605(d)(2), the designation shall not be more than four words. Such statement shall be filed on a form provided by the City Clerk and shall contain a declaration by the candidate, signed under California perjury laws, of the truth thereof. The statement shall be filed at the same time as the nomination papers. The following shall apply to the application of the four-word limitation: (1) the proposed ballot designation shall be grammatically correct, not contain registered trademarks, and all words must be spelled correctly; (2) punctuation shall be limited to the use of a comma (e.g., Mayor, City of San Diego) or a slash (e.g., Legislator/Plumber/Physician), pursuant to subdivision (i) of this section. A hyphen only may be used if the use of a hyphen is called for in the spelling of a word as it appears in a standard reference dictionary of the English language, which was published in the United States at any time within the 10 calendar years immediately preceding the election for which the words are counted; and (3) an acronym shall be counted as one word. (c) If a candidate is engaged in a profession, vocation, or occupation at the time the candidate files their nomination papers, the candidate’s proposed designation of principal profession, vocation, or occupation shall consist of the candidate’s current principal profession, vocation, or occupation. If a candidate does not have a current principal profession, vocation, or occupation when they file their nomination papers, the candidate may use a designation consisting of their principal profession, vocation, or occupation which the candidate was principally engaged in during the calendar year immediately preceding the filing of the candidate’s nomination papers. The designation may be only one of the following: (d) (1) the candidate may designate their principal profession, vocation, or occupation during the calendar year immediately preceding the filing of nomination papers; (2) the candidate may use words designating the same city, county, district, state, or federal office the candidate holds at the time of filing nomination papers, if the candidate has been elected to that public office, or elected or appointed to that judgeship. Proposed designations of principal profession, vocation, or occupation indicating a leadership position such as “Council President” or “Deputy Mayor” or that the candidate is a member or officer of the state or county central committee of a political party, are not elective offices under section 27.0605(d)(2); (3) the candidate may use the word “Incumbent” if the candidate is a candidate for the same office which they hold at the time of filing the nomination papers, and was elected to that office. (A) A proposed designation of principal profession, vocation, or occupation submitted under section 27.0605(d)(3) is limited to the word “incumbent.” The term “incumbent” must be used as a noun. It shall (B) not be used in conjunction with any other words, including any accompanying adjectives or modifiers; or (4) the candidate may use the phrase “Appointed Incumbent,” “Appointed Mayor,” or “Appointed City Attorney” if the candidate has been appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of Mayor or City Attorney, and is seeking to be elected to that elective office at the next election. The candidate may not use the unmodified word “incumbent” or any words designating the office unmodified by the word “appointed.” (e) If a candidate is licensed by the State of California to engage in a profession, vocation, or occupation, the candidate may use it as their principal profession, vocation, or occupation if: (1) the candidate has maintained their license current as of the date they filed their nomination papers by complying with all applicable requirements of the respective licensure, including the payment of all applicable license fees; and (2) the status of the candidate's license is active at the time they filed their nomination papers. (f) A candidate who holds a professional, vocational, or occupational license issued by the State of California may not use such profession, vocation, or occupation as one of their principal professions, vocations, or occupations if: (1) the candidate’s license is inactive at the time the candidate files their nomination papers; or (2) the candidate’s license has been suspended or revoked by the agency issuing the license at the time the candidate files their nomination papers. (g) A designation of principal profession, vocation, or occupation of “Community Volunteer” shall constitute a valid principal vocation or occupation for purposes of section 27.0605(g) if it does not otherwise violate any other provisions in this Division. (1) In this Division, “Community Volunteer” means a person who engages in an activity or performs a service for or on behalf of one or more of the following, without profiting monetarily: (A) a charitable, educational, or religious organization as defined by the United States Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3); (B) a governmental agency; or (C) an educational institution. (2) The activity or service must constitute substantial involvement of the candidate’s time and effort such that the activity or service is the sole, primary, main, or leading professional, vocational, or occupational endeavor of the candidate. (3) When a candidate uses the designation of “Community Volunteer,” it shall be the only designation that appears next to a candidate’s name. (h) Subject to the provisions of sections 27.0605(c) and 27.0607(f), use of the word “retired” in a designation of principal profession, vocation, or occupation is limited to use by individuals who have permanently given up their chosen principal profession, vocation, or occupation. The following apply to the use of “retired” in a designation of principal profession, vocation, or occupation: (1) before retiring from their principal profession, vocation, or occupation, the candidate worked in that profession, vocation, or occupation for more than five years; (2) the candidate is collecting or eligible to collect retirement benefits or other type of vested pension related to their principal profession, vocation, or occupation; (3) the candidate has reached at least the age of 55 years; (4) the candidate voluntarily left their last professional, vocational, or occupational position; (5) if the candidate is requesting a designation of principal profession, vocation, or occupation indicating that they are a retired public official, the candidate must have previously voluntarily retired from public office, not have been involuntarily removed from office, not have been recalled by voters, and not have surrendered the office to seek another office or failed to win reelection to the office. If such a candidate did not voluntarily retire from public office or they termed out of their position, they shall not use the word “retired” in their designation of principal profession, vocation, or occupation; (6) the candidate has not had another more recent, intervening principal profession, vocation, or occupation; and (7) the candidate’s retirement benefits provide them with a main source of income. (i) A candidate engaged in multiple principal professions, vocations, or occupations may designate multiple principal professions, vocations, or occupations. If a candidate proposes a designation that includes multiple principal professions, vocations, or occupations, the proposed designation must comply with the following: (1) the proposed ballot designation is limited to four words as set forth in section 27.0605(b); (2) the City Clerk must consider each proposed profession, vocation, or occupation separately and each proposed profession, vocation, or occupation must independently qualify as a principal profession, vocation, or occupation; and (3) when multiple professions, vocations, or occupations are proposed as a designation, they shall be separated by a slash (“/”). The slash shall be used to separate different professions, vocations, or occupations, not to modify or further explain a profession, vocation, or occupation. (Renumbered from Sec. 27.2201, retitled to “Designation of Principal Profession or Occupation” and amended 7-26-1999 by O-18664 N.S.) (Renumbered from former Section 27.0603, retitled from “Designation of Principal Profession or Occupation” to “Designation of Principal Profession, Vocation, or Occupation” and amended 11-20-2017 by O-20876 N.S.; effective 12-20-2017.) (Amended 6-27-2023 by O-21667 N.S.; effective 7-27-2023.) (Renumbered from Section 27.0604 to Section 27.0605 and amended 1-12-2026 by O-22028 N.S.; effective 2-11-2026.)

Source: City of San Diego Office of the City Clerk, San Diego Municipal Code and City Charter (docs.sandiego.gov PDFs)URL: https://docs.sandiego.gov/municode/MuniCodeChapter02/Ch02Art07Division06.pdf#page=3Fetched: 10/28/2026