BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 362
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 362 (Bonnie Lowenthal)
As Amended March 14, 2011
Majority vote
ELECTIONS 5-1
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|Ayes:|Fong, Bonilla, Hall, |
| |Mendoza, Swanson |
| | |
|-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Logue |
| | |
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SUMMARY : Requires a write-in candidate for the office of
superior court judge to include a declaration on the statement
of write-in candidacy that he or she satisfies the eligibility
requirements for a judge and revises the number of signatures
required on a petition for a write-in campaign for this office.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a write-in candidate for the office of superior court
judge to include a declaration on the statement of write-in
candidacy that he or she satisfies the eligibility
requirements for a judge.
2)Requires that a petition indicating that a write-in campaign
will be conducted for the office of superior court judge be
signed by one-tenth of one percent of the registered voters
qualified to vote with respect to the office, except that the
petition must have no fewer than 100 and does not need more
than 600 signatures.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits a person from becoming a judge of a court of record
unless for 10 years immediately preceding selection, the
person has been a member of the State Bar or served as a judge
of a court of record in the State of California.
2)Provides that in any county in which only the incumbent has
filed nomination papers for the office of superior court
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judge, his or her name shall not appear on the ballot unless
there is filed with the elections official, within 10 days
after the final date for filing nomination papers for the
office, a petition indicating that a write-in campaign will be
conducted for the office and signed by 100 registered voters
qualified to vote with respect to the office.
FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "AB 362 is designed to make
two narrow changes to the law relating to write-in candidacies
for superior court judge. First, �this bill would] require
write-in candidates for judge to indicate that they meet the
constitutional requirements �to] take the bench. . . . Second,
�this bill would] base the number of signatures for the write-in
petition on the size of the county. . . .
"The low signature requirement has led to harassment of judges
based upon race and ethnicity. During the 2008 June primary, a
known white supremacist used this procedure to focus on six
incumbent judges in Los Angeles with Spanish surnames. The
person spearheading this effort published a book in 1989 calling
for disenfranchisement and deportation of non-whites, and was
endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan in a 1989 special election race for
Congress in Wyoming. The protagonist and his colleagues
acknowledged that the judges were selected because of their
names.
"While changing the signature requirement will not insure that
such harassment is not repeated, a reasonable signature
requirement will help insure a seriousness of purpose in each
county, based upon size, and help avoid situations where
signatures are submitted merely to force judge's names onto
ballots."
Unlike candidates for State Legislature, incumbent superior
court judges do not appear on the ballot if nobody files to run
against them unless a petition is filed indicating that a
write-in campaign will be conducted. In fact, candidates for
superior court judge typically do not appear on the ballot,
because it is fairly common for an incumbent judge to be
unopposed in a re-election bid.
As a result, write-in candidates for superior court judge must
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organize a write-in candidacy much earlier than a write-in
candidate for other offices. While the deadline for submitting
a declaration of write-in candidacy for judge is the same as the
deadline for submitting a write-in candidacy for any other
office (14 days before the election), a candidate who plans to
run as a write-in candidate for judge against an unopposed
incumbent will have to file a petition weeks earlier to ensure
that the judge's name is on the ballot, and that a write-in
candidacy is an option.
AB 1335 (Lieu) of 2010, would have changed the number of
signatures needed on a petition indicating that a write-in
campaign would be conducted for the office of superior court
judge from 100 signatures to a number of signatures equal to one
tenth of one percent of the registered voters qualified to vote
with respect to the office, except that the petition would have
required at least 100 signatures and would not have exceeded
1,000 signatures. Additionally, AB 1335 would have required a
write-in candidate for the office of superior court judge to
include a statement that he or she satisfied the eligibility
requirements for a judge on his or her declaration of candidacy.
AB 1335 was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger on September 30,
2010, who expressed concern that the increased number of
signatures required to conduct a write-in campaign against an
incumbent judge could deter an individual from challenging an
incumbent for the office of superior court judge.
Analysis Prepared by : Lori Barber / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0000144