BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 651 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 13, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 651 (Hueso) - As Amended: April 5, 2011 Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:5-2 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill requires professional petition firms-entities that pay individuals to circulate petitions and gather signatures to qualify state or local initiatives-to register annually with the Secretary of State (SOS). This bill also: 1)Requires these firms to pay a registration fee to the SOS, who must use the fee revenues to maintain a directory of the firms on its Website and defray other expenses associated with the registration requirement. 2)Requires a member of a professional petition firm to review with every paid petition circulator, as a condition of hiring, the law relating to obtaining petition signatures and to submit of copy of such training materials to the SOS along with a statement signed by each paid petition circulator and the individual who conducted the law review. FISCAL EFFECT Likely minor costs to the SOS to establish and maintain the registration system, at least partially offset by fees paid by registrants. The SOS indicates that there are currently less than 20 petition firms operating in the state. COMMENTS 1)Purpose . According to the author, the initiative process has shifted from what was originally envisioned to be a grass roots effort to a system heavily influenced by special interests that spend large sums of money, using paid signature gatherers, to qualify a measure for the ballot. The author AB 651 Page 2 believes that AB 651, by requiring state registration of petition gathering firms, posing this information on the SOS website, and requiring these firms to train their workers regarding relevant state law, will help ensure an open and transparent initiative process. 2)Related Legislation . AB 481 (Gordon), pending in Assembly Elections, requires signature gatherers to wear badges indicating whether they are paid or voluteers. 3)Prior Legislation . In 2009, AB 6 (Saldana), a substantially similar bill, was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, who declined to sign a bill that he argued "places an undue burden on reform-minded Californians." Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081