BILL ANALYSIS
AB 753
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 21, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 753 (Adams) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
SUBJECT : Ballot titles and labels.
SUMMARY : Standardizes and clarifies terminology and procedures
for the preparation of titles, summaries, and ballot labels for
state ballot measures. Reorganizes provisions of existing law
governing the preparation of titles, summaries, and ballot
labels for state ballot measures. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires each ballot measure to be designated on the ballot by
its "ballot label," and specifies that the "ballot label" for
statewide measures shall contain no more than 75 words and
shall be a condensed version of the ballot title and summary
including the fiscal impact summary prepared by the
Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO).
2)Defines the "ballot title" as the name of a statewide measure
that is included in the "ballot label" and the "ballot title
and summary."
3)Defines the "ballot title and summary" as the summary of the
chief purposes and points including the fiscal impact summary
of any measure that appears in the state ballot pamphlet.
Requires the ballot title and summary to include a statement
of the measure's fiscal impact. Limits the summary to 100
words, not including the fiscal impact statement.
4)Defines the "circulating title and summary" as the text that
is required to be placed on an initiative or referendum
petition that summarizes the chief points and purposes of the
proposed measure. Provides that the "circulating title and
summary" for an initiative measure includes the fiscal impact
of the proposed initiative measure. Limits the circulating
title and summary to 100 words, not including the fiscal
impact summary.
5)Requires every proponent of a proposed initiative measure to
provide both of the following at the time a draft of the
measure is submitted to the Attorney General (AG) for the AG
to prepare a circulating title and summary:
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a) An original signed certification stating that the
proponent declares under penalty of perjury that he or she
is a citizen of the United States and is 18 years of age or
older, and that specifies the county in California in which
the proponent resides; and,
b) Public contact information.
6)Requires all proposed initiative and referenda measures that
are submitted to the AG for the preparation of a circulating
title and summary to be submitted by U.S. Mail, alternative
mail service, or personal delivery.
7)Requires the AG to assign a unique numeric identifier for each
proposed initiative measure that is submitted for a
circulating title and summary to be prepared. Requires this
numeric identifier to be placed before the circulating title
and summary on the initiative petition.
8)Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to notify county
elections officials and the proponents of a proposed
initiative or referendum measure of the circulating title and
summary for that measure and the schedule showing the maximum
filing deadline for that measure within one business day of
receiving the circulating title and summary from the AG.
9)Requires the SOS to transmit a copy of a measure to the AG
promptly after the SOS determines that the measure will appear
on the ballot at the next statewide election. Requires the AG
to provide and return to the SOS a ballot title and summary
and a ballot label for that measure by a date sufficient to
meet ballot pamphlet public display deadlines.
10)Repeals obsolete requirements regarding the preparation
ballot labels of not more than 20 words for elections
conducted on voting machines.
11)Reorganizes various provisions of the Elections Code dealing
with the preparation of ballot titles, ballot labels, and
titles and summaries.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the proponents of a proposed statewide initiative or
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referendum to submit a draft of that measure to the AG prior
to the circulation of any initiative or referendum for
signatures. Requires the AG to prepare a title and summary of
the chief purpose and points of that proposed measure. Limits
the length of the title and summary to not more than 100
words.
2)Requires the AG, during the preparation of a title and summary
for a proposed statewide initiative measure, to determine
whether the measure would affect the revenues or expenditures
of the state or local government. Requires the Department of
Finance (DOF) and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee
(JLBC) to prepare an estimate of the impact on revenues or
expenditures if the AG determines that the initiative would
affect revenues or expenditures. Requires the AG to include
this estimate in the title and summary.
3)Requires the AG to provide a ballot title for each measure
submitted to the voters of the whole state. Provides that the
ballot title shall express in not more than 100 words the
purpose of the measure. Requires the AG, in providing the
ballot title, to give a true and impartial statement of the
purpose of the measure in such language that the ballot title
shall neither be an argument, nor likely to create prejudice,
for or against the proposed measure.
4)Requires each statewide ballot measure to be designated on the
ballot title provided by the AG.
5)Provides that the statement of all measures submitted to the
voters shall be abbreviated on the ballot. Limits the length
of this abbreviated statement to no more than 75 words.
Requires the abbreviation of measures to be voted on statewide
to be prepared by the AG, and provides that the abbreviated
statement shall be a condensed statement of the ballot title
prepared by the AG.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
[This bill is a] [c]ode clean-up measure to
reorganize, update, and clarify the Elections Code
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provisions regarding ballot labels, titles, and
summaries. Current law is confusing to those that
have to enforce it and those who have to abide by it
because the terminology is not consistent in the codes
or in keeping with current practices. In addition,
the code is not well organized, making it difficult
for voters and people wanting to use and understand
the initiative process to adhere to the requirements.
The goal of AB 753 is to make the terminology
consistent throughout the code to make the process
easier to understand and follow for members of the
public.
2)Titles and Summaries, Ballot Titles, and Ballot Labels :
Existing law uses various terms to refer to summaries that are
prepared for state measures and proposed state initiatives and
referenda. When a person or organization proposes a state
initiative or referendum measure, that measure is given a
"title and summary" by the AG. The title and summary is a
statement of no more than 100 words expressing the chief
points and purposes of the proposed measure which appears at
the top of the petitions for the initiative or referendum
measure. In addition, the title and summary for a proposed
state initiative measure (but not for a proposed referendum)
will include an estimate of the fiscal impact of the measure
on state or local governments if the AG determines that the
measure will have a fiscal impact on state or local
governments. This summary is required to be prepared jointly
by the JLBC and the DOF, and is not counted towards the
100-word limit to the title and summary.
Once a measure qualifies for the ballot (whether through the
initiative or referendum process, or by the Legislature
placing the measure on the ballot), the AG must prepare a
"ballot title" for the measure, which is also frequently
referred to as the "ballot title and summary." The ballot
title is a statement of no more than 100 words expressing the
purpose of the measure, and in the case of an initiative
measure, it may differ from the "title and summary" that
appeared on petitions for that initiative measure. The ballot
title appears in the state ballot pamphlet at the beginning of
the section dealing with that measure, and includes an
estimate of the net state and local government financial
impact of the measure, which is prepared by the LAO. The
estimate of the financial impact is not counted towards the
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100-word limit to the ballot title, and is included for all
statewide ballot measures, including referenda and measures
placed on the ballot by the Legislature.
In addition to preparing a ballot title for any measure that
appears on the statewide ballot, the AG must also prepare a
"condensed statement of the ballot title," which is also
referred to as the "ballot label." The ballot label is an
abbreviated version of the ballot title, and is limited to 75
words, which includes the estimate of the financial impact of
the measure. The ballot label is the language that actually
appears on the ballot at the election.
Because of the similarities in the language used to refer to
these various summaries of state measures, and because
existing law occasionally uses multiple different terms to
refer to the same type of summary, there often is confusion
about the proper terminology for specific types of summaries
of state measures.
This bill would clarify and standardize the terminology that is
used to refer to these summaries. The summary that appears at
the top of an initiative or referendum petition would be known
as the "circulating title and summary." The summary that
appears in the state ballot pamphlet would be known as the
"ballot title and summary," while the name of a statewide
measure that appears on the ballot would be the "ballot
title." Finally, the text that appears on the ballot itself
to describe a statewide measure would be known as the "ballot
label."
3)Reorganization and Changes to Existing Law : In addition to
clarifying and standardizing the terminology that is used to
refer to summaries of state ballot measures and proposed
measures, this bill would reorganize the provisions of the
Elections Code that establish the procedures for the
preparation of those summaries. This reorganization is mostly
non-substantive; however, there are a few minor, but
substantive, changes to existing law that are made by this
bill.
First, this bill requires every proponent of an initiative
measure to provide public contact information and a signed
certification stating the county of California in which he or
she is a resident and declaring that he or she is a citizen of
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the United States and is 18 years of age or older. This
information must be provided at the time the proposed
initiative measure is submitted to the AG.
Second, this bill explicitly requires all statewide referenda
and proposed initiative measures to be submitted to the AG's
Initiative Coordinator located in the Sacramento AG's office
by US Mail, alternative mail service, or personal delivery,
and provides that only printed documents will be accepted and
that facsimile or e-mail delivery are not accepted. While
these requirements are not currently provided in statute, they
are consistent with the AG's current practice for proposed
initiative and referendum measures. This bill also imposes
similar requirements for the submission of amendments to a
proposed initiative measure by the proponents of that measure.
Third, this bill requires the AG to assign a unique numeric
identifier to each proposed initiative measure that is
submitted to the AG - something that the AG currently does,
but which is not explicitly required by state law. This bill
also requires that numeric identifier to be included on the
initiative petition.
Fourth, existing law requires the AG to determine whether a
proposed initiative measure would affect the revenues or
expenditures of the state or local government, and if so,
requires the AG to obtain an estimate of the fiscal effect of
the measure from the DOF and the JLBC. This bill would repeal
the requirement that the AG determine whether a proposed
initiative measure would affect the revenues or expenditures
of the state or local government, and instead would require
the AG to obtain a fiscal estimate from the DOF and the JLBC
for all proposed initiative measures.
Finally, this bill would modify the process for preparation of a
ballot title for a measure that will appear on the statewide
ballot. Under existing law, any person may request that the
AG prepare a ballot title for a proposed measure, which the AG
has 10 days to prepare. According to information provided by
the sponsor of this bill, no one from the public has ever
requested a ballot title to be prepared pursuant to these
provisions. As such, this bill would repeal those provisions
and instead require the AG to prepare a ballot title for a
measure that will appear on the statewide ballot by a date
sufficient to meet the ballot pamphlet public display
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deadlines.
4)20-Word Ballot Labels : Existing law requires the AG to
compose ballot labels of, where possible, not more than 20
words, that are a condensed statement of the ballot title
prepared by the AG. These ballot labels are in addition to
the 75-word ballot labels that the AG prepares. However, the
requirement that the 20-word ballot labels be prepared is in a
portion of the Elections Code that applies only to elections
that are conducted on lever-style voting machines, which are
no longer used to conduct elections in the state.
This bill would repeal the requirement that the AG prepare these
20-word ballot labels for use on those lever-style voting
machines.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Secretary of State Debra Bowen (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094