BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1200|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1200
Author: Ma (D), et al.
Amended: 2/28/12 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
SENATE ELEC. & CONST. AMEND. COMMITTEE : 5-0, 2/21/12
AYES: Correa, La Malfa, De León, Gaines, Lieu
SUBJECT : Elections: central committees
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes various changes to the method of
electing central committees in response to the impacts of
the new top two primary process and recent redistricting.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires that each member of a
county central committee take an oath before any officer
authorized to administer oaths (usually the elections
official), as specified.
This bill instead provides that the oath may be taken
before the chairperson of the county central committee, the
immediate predecessor of the chairperson, or a designee of
the chairperson or his or her immediate predecessor.
Existing law entitles members elected to specified central
committees to receive a certificate of election prepared by
CONTINUED
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the elections official.
This bill eliminates the entitlement to receive a
certificate of election and make other conforming changes.
Existing law provides how members are elected to county
central committees. The method by which members are
elected varies from county to county depending upon certain
factors, such as the number of Assembly districts that
exist within the county.
This bill provides that, for the Democratic Party in
Sacramento County, the elected members of the county
central committee shall be elected by supervisor districts
with six members elected from each supervisor district, as
specified.
This bill provides that, for the Democratic Party in
Alameda County, the elected members of the county central
committee shall be elected by Assembly districts and that
each committee shall contain at least a certain number of
members, as specified.
This bill provides that, for the Democratic and Republican
Party in the City and County of San Francisco, the elected
members of the county central committee shall be elected by
Assembly districts, as specified.
This bill also provides that, for the 2012 Primary Election
only, candidates for the Sacramento Democratic Central
Committee, San Francisco Democratic Central Committee and
San Francisco Republican Central Committee is permitted to
gather nomination signatures anywhere within the county
rather than only in the district they are running to
represent.
Existing law provides, for the Democratic Party, in each
county containing less than five Assembly districts, the
county central committee is required to reapportion itself
at least every 10 years, prior to the June primary election
of that year, as specified.
This bill eliminates this reapportionment requirement.
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Existing law requires that each county central committee of
the American Independent Party meet in the courthouse at
its county seat, upon call, which shall be given by the
elections official of the county and in quarters to be
arranged or provided for by the elections official of the
county, as specified.
This bill, instead, requires the committee to meet at its
county seat, upon call, which shall be given by the
chairperson of the county central committee or the
immediate predecessor of the chairperson.
Background
Internal Party Jurisprudence : In Eu v. San Francisco
County Democratic Central Committee (1989), 489 U.S. 214,
the United States Supreme Court examined the right of a
state to impose laws relating to the internal affairs of
political parties. The Court found that laws burdening the
associational rights of political parties and their members
must serve a compelling state interest. Therefore, because
a state has a compelling interest in preserving the
integrity of its election process, it may properly enact
laws that interfere with a political party's internal
affairs when necessary to ensure that elections are fair
and honest. (For example, a state may properly impose
certain eligibility requirements for voters in the general
election, even though they limit the ability of political
parties to garner support and members, where such
requirements are necessary to ensure that elections are
fair and honest.) However, a state cannot justify
regulating a party's internal affairs without showing that
such regulation is necessary to ensure an election that is
orderly and fair.
In Eu , the Court reiterated that a political party's
determination of the structure which best allows it to
pursue its political goals is protected by the Federal
Constitution ( Tashijian v. Republican Party of Connecticut
(1986), 479 U.S. 208 at 224) and further held that freedom
of association also encompasses a political party's
decisions about the identity of, and the process for
electing, its leaders. Thus, unless the state can show
that the particular internal party structure would
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interfere with the integrity of the electoral process or
some other compelling state interest, the political parties
have a constitutional right to be free from state
regulations in the matter of their internal affairs.
Comments
According to the author's office, this bill makes various
changes to the method of electing central committees in
response to the impacts of the new top two primary process
and recent redistricting.
In 2010, voters adopted Proposition 14 which created the
new "top two" primary system that will first be used
statewide in June of this year. One of the lesser known
components of Proposition 14 is that it put central
committee elections in the state constitution. These often
obscure offices were thus given added importance at the
same time that local election officials are struggling with
the additional challenges and burdens presented by the top
two primary. County election officials have thus asked for
several changes to the rules governing the conduct of
central committee elections to reduce the challenges they
present.
In addition, in 2008 voters adopted Proposition 11 which
created the Citizens Redistricting Commission. Last year
the Commission adopted new boundaries for California's
Assembly, Senate, Congressional and Board of Equalization
Districts. As many county central committees organize
themselves by Assembly District, these new district
boundaries for state offices directly impact the
organization of the political parties as well. In some
situations, the new state boundaries conflict with existing
statutes governing the organization of central committees.
For example, current law states both the San Francisco
Democratic and Republican central committees shall be
organized by Assembly Districts 12 and 13. However, under
the new boundaries, San Francisco will instead by
represented by Assembly Districts 17 and 19.
This bill makes several changes to ease the administrative
challenges for local election officials. First, it
eliminates certificates of election for central committees.
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These are ceremonial documents not required for the
political parties to conduct their business. Second, it
transfers the responsibility for swearing in their members
from the local election officials to the parties
themselves. Third, it eliminates a unique provision that
places special responsibilities on local election officials
to organize the first meetings of the American Independent
Party.
This bill also makes several changes to the organization of
various county central committees in response to the new
district boundaries. For San Francisco, this bill changes
references to Assembly Districts 12 and 13 to Assembly
Districts 19 and 17 respectively, and makes changes to the
proportional make-up. For Sacramento, this bill changes the
method of organizing the Democratic central committee from
Assembly District to Supervisorial District. For Alameda,
this bill changes the method of organizing its central
committees from having an equal number of members from each
Assembly District to a proportional system.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 2/28/12)
Alameda County Democratic Central Committee
Butte County Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California Democratic Party
Sacramento County Democratic Party
San Francisco Democratic Central Committee
JJA:nl:do 2/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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