BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: AB 753 HEARING DATE:6/16/09
AUTHOR: ADAMS ANALYSIS BY:Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 6/9/09
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Ballot titles and labels
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires the proponents of a proposed
statewide initiative or referendum to submit a draft of
that measure to the Attorney General (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.
Existing law 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.
Existing law 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.
Existing law 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.
This bill 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).
This bill defines the "ballot title" as the name of a
statewide measure that is included in the "ballot label"
and the "ballot title and summary."
This bill 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.
This bill 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.
This bill requires the AG to provide a copy of the
"circulating title and summary" and its unique numeric
identifier to the proponents and the Secretary of State
(SOS) within 15 days after receipt of the fiscal estimate
or opinion prepared by DOF and the JLBC.
This bill requires every proponent of a proposed initiative
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measure to provide both of the following at the time a
draft of the measure is submitted to the AG for the AG to
prepare a circulating title and summary:
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,
Public contact information.
This bill 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.
This bill 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.
This bill requires the 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.
This bill 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.
This bill repeals obsolete requirements regarding the
preparation of ballot labels of not more than 20 words for
elections conducted on voting machines.
This bill reorganizes various provisions of the Elections
Code dealing with the preparation of ballot titles, ballot
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labels, and titles and summaries.
BACKGROUND
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 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
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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.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author : AB 753 is a code clean-up
measure to reorganize, update, and clarify the Elections
Code 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. 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
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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 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
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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 deadlines.
3. 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.
4. Prior Legislation : The original version of AB 2584
(Mendoza) of 2008, contained similar clean-up language
dealing with ballot labels, titles and summaries. That
language was amended out of AB 2584 prior to it being
heard in this Committee.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 7-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 16-0
Assembly Floor: 78-0
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POSITIONS
Sponsor: Secretary of State
Support: None received
Oppose: None received
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