BILL ANALYSIS
SB 211
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 211 (Simitian)
As Amended August 2, 2010
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :Vote not relevant
ELECTIONS 6-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Fong, Adams, Bill |Ayes:|Fuentes, Conway, |
| |Berryhill, Gatto, | |Bradford, |
| |Mendoza, Swanson | |Huffman, Coto, Davis, De |
| | | |Leon, Gatto, Hall, |
| | | |Harkey, Miller, Nielsen, |
| | | |Norby, Skinner, Solorio, |
| | | |Torlakson, Torrico |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Revises procedures for holding special elections to
fill vacancies in the California congressional delegation when a
large number of vacancies occur in Congress. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Reduces, from one-fourth of the seats to 101 seats, the number
of vacancies that must occur in the United States (U.S.) House
of Representatives to trigger an expedited special election
schedule for filling any vacancy in the California
congressional delegation.
2)Provides that if an expedited special election schedule is
triggered due to vacancies in at least 101 seats in the U.S.
House of Representatives, the special elections to fill those
vacancies shall be held within 49 days following the
announcement of the vacancy by the Speaker of the U.S. House
of Representatives (Speaker). Requires the Governor to issue
a proclamation calling the election within one day of the
announcement of the vacancy by the Speaker. Provides that no
special election shall be conducted in these circumstances if
either of the following is scheduled to occur within 75 days
of the date of the announcement of the vacancy by the Speaker:
a) A regularly scheduled general election for the vacant
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office; or,
b) A special election for the vacant office, conducted
pursuant to a proclamation issued by the Governor prior to
the date on which the Speaker announced the vacancy.
3)Provides that if an expedited special election schedule is
triggered due to vacancies in at least one-fourth of the
California Congressional delegation, but less than 101 members
of the U.S. House of Representatives, the special elections to
fill those vacancies shall be held on a Tuesday not more than
49 days following the issuance of an election proclamation by
the Governor. Permits a special election held under these
circumstances to be conducted within 75 days following the
proclamation in order that the special election may be
consolidated with the next regularly scheduled statewide
election or local election occurring wholly or partially
within the same territory in which the vacancy exists,
provided that the voters eligible to vote in the local
election comprise at least 50 percent of all the voters
eligible to vote on the vacancy.
4)Makes minor adjustments to the deadlines for a candidate to
file for office and for a voter to request a vote-by-mail
ballot for a special election held under an expedited schedule
as described above.
5)Allows a VBM ballot cast by a U.S. citizen who is residing
overseas to be counted if it arrives up to 45 days after the
date on which the election official transmitted the ballot to
the voter, instead of by the close of the polls on election
day. Allows the Secretary of State to extend deadlines
relating to canvassing and announcement of election results as
necessary to ensure that VBM ballots cast by U.S. citizens who
are residing overseas are counted.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, an event triggering the need for a special expedited
election is very unlikely to occur, and the provisions of this
bill, by reducing certain timeframes in current state law (to
conform with federal law) regarding the conduct of such an
election, would increase costs to local elections officials by
an incremental amount. The additional cost is unknown, but if
only $3,000 per county, on average, would exceed $150,000.
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COMMENTS : AB 2760 (Simitian), Chapter 658, Statutes of 2002,
which was enacted in response to the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks, established procedures for expedited special
elections to fill vacancies in congressional offices caused by a
natural or man-made catastrophe. Under the provisions of AB
2760, if at least one-fourth of the seats in the US House of
Representatives or at least one-fourth of the seats in the
California congressional delegation become vacant due to a
natural or man-made catastrophe, the Governor must issue an
election proclamation to schedule a special election for any
vacant seat in the California congressional delegation within
seven days, and any such special election must be held not later
than 63 days after the issuance of a proclamation. Under these
circumstances, no special primary election is held; the special
election is a winner-take-all election in which the candidate
who receives the plurality of votes is elected, regardless of
the percentage of the vote that candidate receives.
Subsequent to California's approval of AB 2760, the federal
government enacted the Continuity in Representation Act as part
of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2006 (H.R. 2985 of
the 109th Congress). The provisions of the Continuity in
Representation Act were similar to the provisions of AB 2760,
but differed on a few key details. For instance, while the
expedited special election process is triggered under AB 2760
when one-fourth of the seats in the US House of Representatives
become vacant (109 seats in the current 435-seat House), the
Continuity in Representation Act requires expedited special
elections to be held whenever more than 100 seats become vacant.
Additionally, while AB 2760 allows an expedited special
election to be held up to 70 days after a catastrophe occurs
(seven days for the Governor to issue an election proclamation,
and up to an additional 63 days from that time until the
election), the Continuity in Representation Act requires special
elections to be held within 49 days, except in certain limited
circumstances. This bill makes numerous changes to provisions
of state law that were originally enacted by AB 2760 in order to
conform to the Continuity in Representation Act.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
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Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0005952