BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 362
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 362 (Bonnie Lowenthal)
As Amended May 9, 2011
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |53-21|(April 11, |SENATE: |29-8 |(July 14, |
| | |2011) | | |2011) |
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Original Committee Reference: E. & R.
SUMMARY : Requires a write-in candidate for any of several
specified local offices to include a declaration on the
statement of write-in candidacy that he or she satisfies the
eligibility requirements for that office and revises the number
of signatures required on a petition for a write-in campaign for
superior court judge. Specifically, this bill requires:
1)A write-in candidate for any of the following offices to
include a declaration on the statement of write-in candidacy
that he or she satisfies the eligibility requirements for that
office:
a) County auditor;
b) County district attorney;
c) County sheriff;
d) County superintendent of schools;
e) Superior court judge; and,
f) County treasurer, county tax collector; or, county
treasurer-tax collector if the county board of supervisors
has established requirements for that office.
2)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 signatures and does not need more than
600 signatures.
AB 362
Page 2
The Senate amendments require a write-in candidate for the
office of county auditor, district attorney, county sheriff,
county superintendent of schools, superior court judge, county
treasurer, county tax collector, or county treasurer-tax
collector to include a declaration on the statement of write-in
candidacy that he or she satisfies the eligibility requirements
for that office.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was similar to the Senate
approved version, except that the requirement for a write-in
candidate to include a declaration that he or she satisfied the
eligibility requirement for office applied only to write-in
campaigns being conducted for the office of superior court
judge.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is 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
AB 362
Page 3
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
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: 0001228