BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: AB 754 HEARING DATE: 6/7/11
AUTHOR: FLETCHER ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 4/26/11
FISCAL: NO
SUBJECT
Elective office: military service
DESCRIPTION
Existing law permits a candidate to designate another
person to receive a declaration of candidacy form from the
elections official on behalf of the candidate.
This bill permits a person who is deployed on active
military service outside the state and is unable to appear
to file a declaration of candidacy, nomination paper, or
any other paper necessary to run for office, may have that
declaration or paper completed and filed by an
attorney-in-fact, commissioned and empowered in writing for
that purpose through a power of attorney.
This bill requires an attorney-in-fact, when filing a
declaration or paper shall present the original power of
attorney duly signed by the deployed person.
This bill requires the power of attorney to include the
following:
A statement identifying the office which the
deployed person is seeking, including the district
number, if any;
A declaration that the deployed person meets the
statutory and constitutional qualifications for the
office that he or she is seeking and that, if
nominated, the deployed person will accept the
nomination and will not withdraw; and,
A statement that the power of attorney is solely
for the purpose of authorizing the attorney-in-fact to
file a declaration or paper necessary to run for
office.
This bill requires the original or a copy of the power of
attorney to be filed with and attached to the declaration
or paper.
BACKGROUND
Nomination Documents : The Elections Code allows a
candidate to designate someone to pick up the required
election forms and deliver them to the candidate for
return. While this is permissive, it could pose a problem
for service members located in remote, undisclosed
locations to execute and return legal documents in the
timely fashion required by state law.
Existing law does not, however, explicitly permit a
designated representative of a candidate to complete
nomination documents on behalf of the candidate.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author , this bill would codify the
right to run for office while honorably serving the
nation abroad. Impractical and burdensome requirements
would be removed from statute to help ease the
challenges they currently face. Notwithstanding any
other law, a service member who is deployed on active
military service would be able to authorize an
individual with power of attorney to complete and file
on their behalf. A declaration of candidacy filed
through power of attorney would be deemed sufficient for
all filing purposes.
2. Previous legislation : SB 7 (Brulte and Burton),
Chapter 476, Statutes of 2004, allows a member of the
Armed Forces of the United States who is stationed
overseas and serving in a conflict or a war and is
unable to appear for the licensure and solemnization of
a marriage to enter into that marriage by the appearance
AB 754 (FLETCHER) Page
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of an attorney-in-fact. SB 7 included a number of
safeguards to protect against fraud and to minimize the
potential for legal ambiguity or challenges of marriages
entered into pursuant to that bill. This bill includes
a number of safeguards, modeled after those in SB 7,
that are designed to prevent legal uncertainty or
ambiguity if questions arise about whether a candidate
meets the qualifications to hold office, or if there is
a lack of clarity about the specific office that a
deployed person intends to seek.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 7-0
Assembly Floor: 74-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: None received
Oppose: None received
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